ABC's
by xXKiki-chan-2-13Xx
Summary: There were twenty-six words that could only begin to describe what I thought of and felt for her. Twenty-six words alone. One word for every letter.
1. Adorable

_Okay, so to clarify this; yes this is yet another story :) so cutely entitled ABC's and you probably know the reason because of the summary. This idea just popped into my head and made me smile at the cuteness so I decided to type it up and post it up as you can all see. This fic will be mostly NejiTen and SasuSaku centric seeing as I am obsessed with both pairings but there will be hints of NaruHina, SaiIno, and ShikaTema thrown in there so be sure to look out for them. _

_Okay, so without further ado; let the story…begin!  
__Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto_

**ABC's  
****Summary: **_There were twenty-six words that could only begin to describe what I thought of and felt for her. Twenty-six words alone. One word for every letter._

_

* * *

_A D O R A B L E

_You've got fashion and style  
__I'm loving your smile and  
the way you get down_

_I can't see no one else  
__It's you by yourself  
__Despite of the crowd – Ryan Leslie; Addiction_

**Chapter One**

**Adorable – **(a dōr' a bl) _adj. _Very likeable; charming. **adorably** _adr. _**adorableness** _n._

_N E J I_

**Adorable.** So fucking **adorable**. That was the word that ran through my mind all day today whenever I saw her. Her beautiful brown eyes that looked like melted pools of chocolate with those long, curled eyelashes that accented her eye form, to give her more of a Chinese appearance even with a full Japanese background. That beautiful, wavy, brown, hip-length hair that was always kept up in those cute panda buns on the top of her head, her bangs out to the front, always well brushed straight out into a fringe. Maybe it was that button nose or those bright pink lips that made her look that way. Maybe it was that flawless, slightly tanned skin that gave her such a remarkable **adorableness.**

Either way, she was adorable. So fucking adorable it was no wonder she'd made me fall so easily. This pretty, five foot four model-figure of a girl was no other than Tenten, my closest friend, and just about the only _classmate_ I ever really spoke to about anything.

I mean sure, I had friends like Sasuke, Naruto, hell I even had Sakura, and her cousin Sakurambo, as well as my own cousin Hinata. But no, I trusted no one as much as I trusted my brown haired best friend. She was the one I could go to about anything, and I know it sounded weird that I would confide everything, including all of my problems, in this one _girl_ when I had so many males around me. But it was simply impossible to_ not _trust her. She was too kind hearted to ignore and she was so _trustworthy_ that it was no wonder I could tell her anything.

From the day I met her, I felt something about her. There was a certain air around her, an air of innocence and sweetness that automatically made me close to her in freshman year two years ago. I thought she was innocent…until she got into a fierce argument with some girl that'd pushed her intentionally to make a small group of kids laugh.

That alone attracted me to her just a little more. I liked women that could defend themselves when needed.

Since then, we'd clicked. I'd been pulled to her like she had her own gravitational pull, and we stuck together like glue. Soon after, she met my cousin and she joined as well, along with a few of her friends, which were Sakura, Sakurambo, and Ino who all were cool with Sasuke, Lee, Sai, Kiba, Chouji, and Shikamaru, who had been close friends with Temari as well. Temari was one of the track stars with Tenten and Karin who knew Suigetsu since kindergarten as well and they were all pretty close too.

I let a small sigh escape as I walked down the halls aimlessly before lunch. I was taking the long route to my locker. I needed time to think. I couldn't get her out of my head as I turned another corner and started down the next hallway. She stuck there like a scar. It was like someone shoved a picture of her into my brain. Talk about mental images.

My long dark-brown hair flopped behind me as I walked down the halls. It was quiet, seeing as it was already five maybe six minutes into the lunch period and everyone was in the cafeteria…

"I-I don't know…I guess I could…tell him how I feel…"

My ears perked up, my silver eyes alert as I heard Tenten's wind-chime like voice. Karin's voice echoed back as she spoke with her, her feminine-deep yet semi-high voice ringing with her reply. "You should. At least I think you should. It would make you guys official." I blinked. Who were they talking about?

Silently, I crept closer, pressing my back quietly against the set of lockers next to them and holding on to the math book and notebook in my hand, clutching the pen in my other. Their voices became even louder with the closer I got. "Karin…are you sure I should…you know…tell him…" I peeked around for just a quick second and I could see that Karin was giving Tenten a cute little smile, her bright white teeth showing and looking bleached against her waist-length, layered red hair and maroon eyes that hid behind her black, horn-rimmed glasses. Only a second later I heard Karin speak again. "Go for it."

Deciding that it was time to come out of hiding, I popped out from behind the lockers and walked into the hallway. I noticed Tenten clamp her mouth shut and blush lightly. "Hi Neji." She smiled at me and I smiled back slightly. Karin smiled at me. "What's up Hyuga?"

I nodded in her direction. "Hi to you too Karin. How's the track team's practices been coming along?" She threw her arm around Tenten's shoulders and they both flashed cheesy grins, both holding a thumbs up and winking, looking like Lee. "Great! The team's doing insanely good." Tenten nodded vigorously in agreement.

Curtly, I nodded. "Well that's good. Let's see if you can keep your star status as the best track team in Konoha." Their grins only intensified, which increased Tenten's beauty tenfold as I saw her prefect white teeth. "Hell yeah we will!" She said.

They both let go of each other and took a couple steps closer to me. "Neji, what are you doing holding a book if you're supposed to be going to lunch?" I blinked, finally realizing I was still holding the book and notebook and smirked. "I'm just smart like that." They both rolled their eyes and let out small laughs. "Yeah, okay. Let's go with that." I maintained my smirk as I continued down the hallway. "My locker's just around the corner. I had to go bring it back to go to lunch."

Tenten blinked as she began walking with me, falling into stride easily. "But, don't you usually take the shortest route possible to your locker?" I shrugged. "I felt like walking today. I needed some time to think." She smiled. "About what?" _About you_. "About this crap that we went over in math today." She let out a small bubbly giggle. "Oh, I forget, you're in Algebra two and I'm in geometry. I was about to say that it was the easiest thing in the world." A slight grin crossed her face in short-lived embarrassment as we reached my locker.

I quickly did my combination and opened the locker. I tossed in the books and shut it closed, relocking the lock on it and turning back to both Karin and Tenten as soon as I was done. "We can go to lunch now." They nodded and we turned back to the way we were going. The cafeteria was closer to here than it was the other way I took.

In just a few minutes we reached the closed metallic double doors of the cafeteria. It was pretty silent in the hallway, all except for the soft hum of the loud chatter from the other side of the doors that leaked through the cracks near the ceiling and floor.

With a sigh I pushed the door open and the mixed voices of the approximately fourteen hundred kids in the school blasted through my ear drums like screwed up club music; loud and annoying. I stepped into the cafeteria, with Karin and Tenten behind me and made my way to the lunch line where we quickly got our food and then to the table where everyone had been sitting save for Sasuke and Sakura.

Geez, I wonder where they were…

Ino smiled and waved at us as we sat down in our usual seats, her other hand twirling her pale blond hair, her shining blue eyes staring up at us from underneath light blond eyelashes. "Hi Neji, Tenten, Karin." She bared her white teeth and I nodded back in greeting.

Suigetsu smiled at Karin as she sat down. "What's up?" She smiled and reached over and hugged her long time, blue haired, aqua-green eyed best friend before turning toward her tray and beginning to eat her pizza. Temari just plain grinned at Tenten, her teal eyes closed in emphasis as to how much she was grinning. Her four bunches stuck out from the back of her head as her fringe bangs covered her forehead.

"What's up Panda?" Tenten glared up at her from her own slice of pizza. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Panda unless you put 'chan' at the end?" Temari laughed. "Okay then. What's up Panda-_chan_?" Tenten grinned. "Much better."

They both shared a laugh at that small joke and shared identical grins before they both turned back to their food.

Shikamaru reached over the table and I clapped hands with him and shook, as we always did. "What's up?" He said in a lazy drawl, scratching at the back of his head, his hair pulled into a spiky ponytail at the top of his head, and his dark brown eyes gazing lazily at me. "Damn, you look tired as ever." I told him. He shrugged. "I was up all night doing Asuma's fucking report." I blinked. "It took you that long to do that easy report?" He shook his head. "No, I kept looking at the clouds and stars." I smirked. "Keep your head out of the clouds Nara."

He, in turn, let out a yawn and laid his head in his arms on the table.

Sai remained silent as he kept his eyes on Sakurambo and Lee's small talk. Chouji ignored everyone completely as he devoured his food like a rampaging bear. Kiba was just sitting doing his homework, unaware that anyone was at the table at all. He was always a last minute person, wasn't he?

I took a bite out of my pizza after greeting everyone that even bothered to say hello and chewed slowly, lazily. I was in no hurry. We had a forty-five minute lunch period to just converse and get it out of our systems. It'd already been ten minutes when we got there and now it was slightly more, but it made no difference. Still…Sasuke and Sakura were usually the first ones here…which made me wonder where they were.

_Maybe they're in some corner making out or confessing to each other…it'd be about time. Uchiha needs to grow some balls. _I fought a smirk at that thought and then fought down a sigh. Yeah, I was a hypocrite for that. _Of course, I can't even tell Tenten either so what's the point of making fun of Uchiha when, if anything, he's gotten farther than me.  
_

_  
S A S U K E_

**Adorable**. So fucking **adorable**. The word ran through my mind randomly as I stuffed my books in my locker, my thoughts drifting elsewhere. She was probably in the cafeteria by now, waiting for me to show up to tell me about her classes. She'd been doing that since we were in middle school. She was just as adorable then as she was now, with her perfectly straight waist length bubble-gum pink hair, with the long bangs framing her face to show off her features and shining emerald green orbs with curved, long eyelashes and bubble-gum pink eyebrows to match her hair. She had a straight, perfect, _natural_ nose and lush red lips against blemish-free porcelain skin. She was short, at five foot one, and me at five foot eight, same as Hyuga.

Most people thought she looked like a walking cherry tree. I thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

I worked slowly at my locker, closing it shut unusually slow. I couldn't shake the feeling deep down in my stomach. The feeling that made my heart slam against my ribcage excitedly and made my stomach drop. Yes, I know it sounded awkward but that's the only thing that really happened whenever my mind drifted to her…whenever my mind drifted to Sakura Haruno.

"Hi Sasuke-kun."

"Holy shit!"

I slammed my locker shut the rest of the way and snapped my head in surprise to see said person standing next to me, smiling brightly at me. "Why are you so slow today?"

I blinked a few times, to calm down the surprise I wouldn't let show for long and then I smirked. "Cuz I want to be. Is there anything wrong with being slow? I mean, look at how great you're doing." She glared playfully as my smirk slightly widened. "You cocky bastard, you're so stupid for that." I shrugged. "Must be an affect of hanging out with you for so long." She rolled her eyes, a bright smile on her face still.

This was how we joked around. We never took any insults straight to the heart. We knew we were joking. It was just the way our relationship was.

But with much courage and a hell of a lot more luck, I could trade that for something better. For something more romantic.

I slapped myself mentally at that thought. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

There was a pull on my arm and I looked down to see Sakura holding onto me. "Let's go Sasuke! Everybody's probably waiting for us! Let's go!" I smirked. "They can wait. Let's see just how patient Hyuga _really_ is." She rolled her cute moss eyes. "Sasuke, stop playing. And plus, I'm hungry."

I let out a small chuckle and stuffed my hands in my pockets, walking with her latching onto my arm in a friendly way, like she'd done since middle school. I didn't mind. I was pretty used to it already.

We slowly made our way down the school's long halls to the cafeteria like that. No one was going to see us, all of the hallways were empty. There was a small, muffled sound and I looked down at Sakura. "You tired?" She smiled. "Just a little. I didn't get much sleep. I was redoing my myspace page." Her smile turned into a smirk and she stared straight up at me almost competitively. "You can bet your ass now that mine looks better than yours!"

A small chuckle escaped. "Heh, yeah, okay. I won't say anything to not hurt your feelings but I'm just hinting that your page could never beat mine in a million years." She pouted. "Why do you always have to be so mean about things?"

Her face eased up quickly though, seeing as she was only joking. I shrugged. "By nature." She let out a cute little ringing laugh and then smiled contentedly. "Sasuke, I swear you're an idiot." She walked a little closer to me and my heartbeat accelerated slightly. "But I guess that's what it means when people say, 'I'm With Stupid'." She let out a playful laugh while I glared at her, not really meaning it.

We reached the closed double doors of the cafeteria. I was going to walk in but Sakura stopped me. "What?" She grinned. "It's loud as ever in there!" I cocked my head to the side. "Okay? And what does that have to do with anything?" She smiled softly. "I like to savor the silence while I can. Once it's gone, it's hard for it to come back…" I blinked a few times. "I guess I'm not the only slow one. Have you seen how easy it is for silence to come back when there's an argument or once the kids see the principal in the room after the fight?"

She giggled cutely. "Okay, yeah. But I'm talking about the silence you can cherish while you're alone or with a few friends. It's like twilight before it goes completely dark. You can cherish the last few minutes of the light before the specific time zone falls into darkness." She smiled. "I make use of those few minutes."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, cuz that's not weird…" She let out a small laugh and slapped me softly on the arm. "You're so stupid I swear it should be illegal." I smirked. "If you're saying that to me then you're calling yourself twice as stupid because my IQ if anything is higher than yours and you yourself are being stupid by calling me stupid if you know the circumstances of this situation." She blinked. "Why'd you have to go all psychology nerd on me?" I let out a small laugh. "You killed it Sasuke. It's not all that funny." And then she laughed a bit too.

"Sakura." She looked up at me. "Hmm?" I smirked. "You're contradicting yourself." She blinked. Three. Two. One… "Dammit." And then she laughed again.

With a quick roll of the eyes and a step forward, I shoved the door to the cafeteria open and walked in with Sakura on my arm. No one ever said anything. Everyone in school knew that this was how we walked. It was a topic of gossip the first time we had done that, and everyone had thought we were a couple. Sakura had blushed only just a bit but I had to really struggle to keep down the pink tint from my cheeks. We'd explained that we were just really close and we were always like that. Straight after that, no one bothered us again.

How I wish we had been at the time. That was a year ago but I could easily picture us a couple. Everyone said we should get together. Sakura would just smile and shake her head and I would just remain falsely unaffected. I didn't want to let anything slip about my feelings toward her.

Usually, I kept my emotions hidden from everyone. At times I'd let a few slip if it was just me and Sakura alone, but never the ones that I'd kept locked up for so long. I feared it would ruin our relationship as friends and if I couldn't have her as a girlfriend, I guess that having her as a best friend could be the next best thing.

We made our way to the short line and quickly got our lunch before sitting down in our usual spot, with Sakura next to Sakurambo, who was on her left, and me on her right. She leaned over and gave Sakurambo, who was nearly identical to her, a sisterly kiss on the cheek (although they were cousins) and leaned over a little more and gave Lee a quick hug.

She sat professionally out of habit, swinging one leg over the other and letting it rest there. "So what's up with you guys?" Sakurambo smiled almost identically to Sakura, with her aquamarine eyes blinking and shining brightly, her slightly darker bubble-gum pink hair shining as healthily and long as Sakura's.

It was easy to see the family relation between the both of them. No one ever missed it. Most people actually thought that they were sisters what with the way that they played around and spoke with each other. As a matter of fact, some even believed them to be twins, because Sakura was born March twenty-seventh at eleven forty five at night, and Sakurambo was born March twenty-eight at three in the morning, which could have meant they could have possibly been twins, had they had the same parents.

But they didn't, so they weren't.

Lee's black bug-eyes widened and his bushy eyebrows rose nearly into his jet black bowl cut. "Oh! I just remembered, I must go to the boys' track team training with Gai-sensei!" Sakura smiled. "You're trying out?" He nodded vigorously. "I have both the speed and the stamina." He smiled proudly and I rolled my eyes briefly. "Sasuke, are you going to try out?" I looked up from my food and shook my head, face emotionless, as I guessed.

"But why are you not trying out? You are very fast." I shrugged. "I figure it's enough being the star quarterback, on the basketball team, on the baseball team, and on the Student Council as vice president. I think I have enough after school activities."

Neji smirked from in front of me, stopping his short conversation with Tenten. "Yeah, you may be the star quarterback, but the entire school knows that I'm the best damn halfback this school's ever had." He flashed a cocky smirk and I glared. "Whatever. I'm still the best _athlete_ in the school." Neji raised an eyebrow. "Who's the basketball team captain?" I sighed. "You are." His smirk widened slightly. "Who's the Student Council president?" I continued, my small scowl deepening. "You are." His smirk widened in amusement.

Sakura and Tenten, as usual, would break the fight. "Okay, and Sakura's the school's secretary." "And Tenten's the school's treasurer!" They continued their small spaz together. "And we're both on the school debate team, science team, math team, volleyball team, and we both are the presidents of our grades. So suck that you pride fuckers."

And then they laughed, as usual. While Sakura and Sakurambo usually acted like twins, in a room where Tenten was included, they acted more like triplets, Tenten being the third one.

We both let out a long breath. Karin continued. "Don't forget me, Tenten, and Temari are the track stars, I'm also on the debate team and math team, and even the creative writers group." Temari smirked and threw in her own activities. "And I'm in the science team, chemistry style with Tenten while Sakura and Sakurambo are with Ino in the biology one. Hinata's in the nature and global warming studies competition there too and I'm on the volleyball team with Karin, Hinata, Ino, Sakura, and Tenten."

The girls smirked and spoke in unison. "So suck that you pride fuckers."

And then they all laughed again.

Kiba finally lifted his head and spoke. He bared his unusually long canines and red triangular tattoo marks on each cheek, scratching his brown hair for a second. "Will you guys all shut the hell up? I can't finish my homework and I have to before next period." He kept his dark eyes on all of us and we all shrugged. "You should've done it at home instead of sitting around doing nothing." He smirked. "I did do _something_ at home…or rather _someone_." He waggled his eyebrows and Temari reached over and smacked him. "Stop bragging about your nights with you Hanara in your bedroom. We don't need mental images of you screwing her in our brains thank you very much."

Next to me Sakura twitched slightly and pushed her tray in front of her. "Too late. I lost my appetite." I chuckled. "You're pretty weak. It's just Kiba and Hanara…" A terrible image flashed through my mind way too explicit for a story and I twitched and pushed my plate away. "You know what, never mind, I'm not hungry anymore." She giggled. "Yeah, I'm weak alright Mr. Macho Tough Guy."

I blinked a few times and raised an eyebrow while turning my head to her. "Mr. Macho Tough Guy?" She blinked and blushed slightly in embarrassment. "Yeah…oh wait…I forgot the wannabe part. Mr. Wannabe Macho Tough Guy." Neji chuckled in a deep rumble and Tenten let out a small laugh along with everyone else at the table. "I'm no wannabe. I set the example and the standards for the wannabes." She rolled her cute eyes. "You keep telling yourself that Sasuke."

And then she laughed again and slapped my arm softly. "Awe, but you know I love you." She pinched my cheek and I slapped her hand away. "That hurts. You're stronger than most people know." She shrugged. "Not my fault. It's genetic."

Once everyone calmed down Sai jumped into the conversation, finally coming out of his silence. He cast his eyes on Ino for a split second. He spoke in a median male monotone, his black eyed gaze on Ino. "You know, it seems to me like Sasuke and Sakura are having a married couple moment." He smiled slyly as he placed a hand on his smoothed down haired head. "You guys bicker a lot." I glared at him. "We don't bicker, we argue." Sakura spoke for me. "And we aren't married either. We're friends." And again she spoke for me, although it wasn't what I really wanted to say.

What I really wanted to say was we did argue, of course, but we were together, at the very least. Not even that little could escape my mouth because it could really screw up what I had with her.

I fought down a sigh. Making troublement obvious could be bad too so I never let anything show.

My gaze drifted toward the clock. It was already twenty five minutes into the lunch wave which meant we could stay for another twenty minutes before the bell rang, giving us our five minutes to go to our lockers, and then get to our classes in the time before the bell rang again.

You missed the bell, you were considered late and were either reprimanded _badly_, I mean like so much spazzing on that it was a personal lecture on the importance of being punctual in front of _the whole class_, or an automatic detention.

I'd never got a detention in my life, so I was fine. I could safely say that the only ones that ever got detention _ever_ in our table were Naruto, Kiba, and Suigetsu and they'd never gotten that many, maybe only three or four per person.

I pulled back my food and slowly bit into it again, feeling my appetite come back to me a little. I could already see Sakura eating her lunch again, so I was guessing that she recovered just fine from those…images…

I let my elbow rest on the table and laid my cheek in my hand. I was pretty bored now because no one at the table was talking at this point.

Maybe everyone was just deep in thought…

Tenten bust out laughing out of the blue and everyone turned to stare at her with raised eyebrows. She clutched at her stomach and let out a gut-busting laugh. Her usually slightly tanned face was turning darker and darker shades of red until she turned eventually turned purple.

And we all just stared at her. Neji leaned over slightly and tapped her shoulder. She continued laughing. "Tenten, are you okay?" She nodded her head, but she kept laughing. "I…it's…aha…ahaha…" And she continued her long laughter, taking in gasps of breath only to keep laughing. "It's…heh hee…i-i-imagine…pfft ha ha ha!" Most of us let out long sighs but Neji just kept staring at her with his eyebrow raised. "Tenten…what the hell is so funny?"

She continued laughing. "I-i-imagine…everyone…at-at this table…aha ha…b-b-bald!" And she kept right on laughing her ass off.

A few others joined in, like Lee, Naruto, Kiba, and Temari. The rest of us either chuckled or smirked but we didn't really find it all that funny.

Slowly, they all calmed down, letting out a couple chuckles as they thought about it and then the laughter easily died down, leaving most people with amused smiles on their faces. People like me, Neji, Shikamaru, and Sai just smirked. We were higher than smiles. We barely smiled at all unless the moment was _truly_ worth it.

I glanced over at Sakura to see her smiling, a cute little happy shine in her eye.

Adorable. So fucking adorable. The way she smiled, the way she laughed was so fucking adorable that it could entrance anyone.

I gazed at her for a short minute, struggling to look away and when I finally did, I felt my heartbeat accelerate.

With difficulty, I fought down a smile. I didn't want anyone to see me like that. Hyuga would never let me live it down, and neither would the dobe. I'd finished my lunch a long time ago, so I pushed it out in front of me and just propped my head up on my hand. "Dammit…why are you all so quiet today?"

Hinata finally spoke, her silver eyes glancing over at me as she grabbed at her long indigo hair nervously. "U-um…I believe i-it's something t-to do with K-K-Kiba-kun doing his homew-work." She blushed a slight pinkish color. The girl could never speak without a stutter in her voice and a blush on her face.

Naruto grinned over at her, casting his cerulean blue eyes on her, scratching his blond-headed self in the neck. "You care too much about people Hinata-chan. We can talk all we want and ninety nine percent of anything that comes from my mouth will be loud so Kiba won't be able to concentrate." He let out a loud laugh just to prove it and we all glared at him.

Neji leaned over Tenten and punched him on the head. "Idiot." He sat back straight again and folded his hands on the table boredly. Tenten let out a small laugh from next to him. "You're both idiots for that."

Sakura nodded vigorously. "Yep! Naruto, being that loud when someone's trying to concentrate is rude! And Neji…do you want Naruto to lose even _more_ brain cells?" Said person shrugged. "I don't really give a damn. He's still smart enough to know right from wrong…" he paused and thought a bit before saying "…You know maybe I _should _stop."

Both Tenten and Sakura let out a laugh.

**Adorable**. So fucking **adorable**.

That cute little ring was so fucking **adorable** it hurt.

_  
N E J I_

**Adorable**. So fucking **adorable**. That was the only word I could think of as I watched her laugh. Her laugh was so pretty, so melodic, it'd give songbirds a run for their money.

She calmed down with a soft sigh and her facial features relaxed into a cute little smile that accented her plump rose lips. "That was funny. Neji, if you didn't have that giant stick up your ass most of the time, you'd make a good stand up comedian." Stick up my ass? Was it my fault that I rarely talked? That was how I was raised; I couldn't do anything about that. In the Hyuga household, everything was quiet. Nothing or no one ever made a sound.

I don't exactly know why it was so quiet. I guess if you spoke it was like breaking a law or something but people in my household just loved the peace and quiet, and so I'd grown up liking it as well. Any disturbances in the house were unusual so we could easily identify when something was wrong. When people spoke, it was just in their rooms. No one ever spoke out in the halls or during dinner, breakfast, and on the weekends, lunch.

Hyugas considered themselves above speaking unless they were giving some super important speech or simply talking in private.

Heh, tough luck for them because now they have teenagers from the twenty first century.

"Neji?" I blinked and turned to look at Tenten. "Are you going to thank me or smack me?" I blinked a few more times as things came into focus again. How long had I been lost in thought? Slowly, everything came back to me, how she'd called me a person with a 'stick up their ass'. "Screw you." Whoops…did that come out?

She pouted falsely. "Ooh poo! I don't want you to me!" I raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about?" She grinned. "You said screw, which is the definition of your name."

A scowl found its way to my face. "Oh, well that's great. You're thinking about me with you…you know…you really need to get your head out of the clouds Tenten…when I said that I meant fuck you." She twitched. "Umm…no thanks…" I slammed my head on the table. "Damn you." She shook her head. "Nope, my name means Heaven, I feel offended that you would even consult the topic of damnation with me."

I sighed. "Kami-sama give me patience."

She let out a small laugh. "Awe, see, this is what I meant when I said you had a stick up your ass." I propped my head up on my elbow and stared at her. "I have no sticks up my ass. I'm perfectly normal." She raised an eyebrow. "A student with a five point oh grade average, star of almost all athletic and academic teams, and a rich boy cannot be normal for a junior in high school." I shrugged. "And your point would be?" She sighed. "You're not normal at all."

And then she grinned again and I fought back a smile. She was so fucking **adorable** it wasn't funny. She grabbed onto my arm. "But you're my little weirdo!" I raised an eyebrow down at her and tried not to blush. "Since when do you own me?" She glared playfully at me. "Since I met you two years ago."

I maintained the raised eyebrow. "I don't remember being sold." She grinned. "Because you weren't in the room when I was with Hiashi." I rolled my eyes. "That was pretty stupid…you do realize that I'm not some random corner job prostitute, right?" She let out another melodic, pretty laugh.

"Neji, you're so…stupid…but funny." She got serious toward the middle and joking toward the end. "Are you on your period or something because you're really hyper today?" She shook her head. "Nope, no I am not. I had coffee with cereal this morning. That was good." I twitched. Coffee and cereal? That could not be healthy.

"I have to go get you checked out for diabetes…and while I'm there I'll get some tests run for ADD, ADHD, Down Syndrome, Mental Retardedness type one, Mental Retardedness type two, Bipolar disorder, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and Lead Poisoning." She twitched. "Yeah, fuck you too Neji!...and why dyscalculia and dyslexia?" I smirked. "How much did you pay for me?" She smirked. "Two hundred." I shrugged. "Really, you can't pay for a much higher worth person with how much you're worth." She let out a small laugh, not taking my joke to heart.

I kept going. "I think I'm worth at least two quadrillion." She frowned. "No one has that kind of money."

I shrugged. "Earn it. You have another one quadrillion, nine hundred ninety-nine trillion, nine hundred ninety-nine billion, nine hundred ninety nine million, nine hundred ninety nine thousand, and eight hundred before you fully pay me off." Her frown deepened. "I can't make that much money in a reincarnation lifetime, so what makes you think I can pay you all that money now." Again, I shrugged. "Rent it, but don't break it." She pursed her lips in mock thought. There was a pause in our conversation as she rubbed her chin with her two fingers.

Finally, after a long few minutes, she sighed. "I'm gonna go get my refund. You being a male prostitute just scares me." And then she let out a laugh and I felt my eyes soften just slightly as I looked at her. "That just really scares me! I can't imagine you on the corner in heels and a mini skirt…" She let out another laugh and I glared at her.

"I can sure as hell imagine you doing that." At this she gagged, like literally gagged. She wasn't doing it to play around, she actually turned green and looked like she was going to be sick. "Me? In skirts? Yeah, my ass if you ever see me in a skirt. I absolutely hate them! The only time you'll ever see me in a skirt or in a dress is at prom night or in a night gown when I'm about to go to sleep…If the school gets a dress code then screw it, I'm leaving."

And then she gagged again. "And heels? They're not that bad. I actually walk pretty well in those, but it's just that…some people go overboard with them." At this she glanced at Ino, Temari, and Karin, and they all stared back. "Why are you staring at us?" Tenten grinned. "Oh no reason. I just wanted to see my adorable best friends' faces." She maintained the grin and the girls all gave her suspicious looks.

"Were you making fun of our Stilettos again?" Tenten shrugged, rolling her bright brown eyes. "I don't know, possibly…" At this she smirked and the girls all shrugged. "That's fine. Just because we can walk in them doesn't mean you have to pick on us for being models."

She let out a laugh. "I can walk in them too, but I don't like wearing them. Like those seven inch ones you bought me for Christmas last year. I mean really, Christmas is a time to end sin but you guys, pfft, you double it with those things."

They all let out small laughs before Tenten turned back to me. "Anyway, like I was saying. Some people go overboard with them to the point that they can't walk in sneakers because they're so used to heels. I'm not one of those people. I don't wear them all that much and the only time you'll ever see me where heels is at prom, a wedding, or a funeral…possibly in court too but I just might walk in there with some skinnies and a pair of Jordan's." She laughed again and sighed softly. I rolled my eyes. "You are something else."

She smiled.

**Adorable.** _So __**fucking **__**adorable**_. "Thank you. Something else means weird. And weird is just another word for unique. When someone's unique and the other person doesn't want to admit it, they call them weird to cover up their true thoughts but in truth we unique people know that we are being complimented because when you're weird, it means you don't fit in with everyone else. It means that you stick out, like the red in the tan and the blue in the silver and white. You might stick out in a bad way, or you might stick out in a good way, but either way, you're not like everyone else and you're considered unique." At this, she smiled. "So thank you again Neji."

She let out a small laugh.

I fought down a small smile. She spoke before I could say anything. "Well anyway, like I was saying, you and prostitution…just don't mix." I rolled my eyes. Sai spoke out again for the first time in ten minutes. "It seems as though Neji and Tenten are both having a small couple's argument themselves. I think Tenten's asking Neji to go into prostitution just for her." We glared at him. "Sai, you know sometimes I think all of us can agree that you should really shut the hell up." Tenten came to both of our defense. Ino, hearing the small argument, leaned over and hugged Sai.

"Awe, it's okay. I think it's cute when you talk, even if it's in the most rude ways possible." She giggled a little, sounding ditsy and slightly drunk. She pinched his cheek. "You are so cute! Muah!" She kissed his cheek and he smiled slightly. "But you're mine, which means only I can claim you!"

She let out another giggle and sat back down easily.

I glanced at the clock. Ten minutes before the bell. Thank God. Today's lunch period was way too boring.

Tenten shrugged her shoulders easily. "You can keep Sai. You guys make a cute couple anyways." She grinned and Ino blushed slightly. Sai had a barely noticeable pink tint on his cheeks that nearly matched his pale skin, but it was still there.

Tenten maintained her toothy smile and turned to me. "Anyway…what were we talking about before we got to you being a male prostitute in a skirt and heels." She let out a cute little giggle. I wracked my brain. "I'm pretty sure you were talking about how you bought me or something like that." She laughed. "Oh yeah! Well I'm returning your ass. Hiashi can have you back! I paid two hundred and I want double that amount for my troubles!" She laughed again and slapped my arm playfully. "Awe, you know I love you."

I nodded. "Yes, because you've told me about a thousand times already." Not that I minded. She smiled and grabbed my arm, leaning her head against it. "Neji…" She glanced up at me, and I raised my eyebrow. "What?" She grinned widely, showing all her perfect teeth. "You're a fuzzbag!" And then she laughed.

**Adorable.** _So __**fucking **__**adorable**_! It took all my willpower to not lean down and kiss her in front of everyone in the cafeteria. Trust me when I say, that was a lot of resisting.

I glanced down at my plate. It was completely empty. I'd finish eating my pizza a few minutes ago and I was about ready to get the plate and tray out of my face already.

With a quick movement, I removed my arm from Tenten's grasp and picked up the tray. I stood and briskly walked over to the trash can, dumping all the trash into it and leaving the tray on top before walking back to the table. Tenten looked up at me, the smile never leaving her face.

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Did you take some sort of laughing gas this morning because you seem extra hyper?" Her smiled slowly turned into a grin. "No, just thinking. What's next Wednesday?" I blinked as I thought about it.

"Umm…that biology test?" Her smile dropped and she pouted.

**Adorable. **_So __**fucking **__**adorable**_! "Nope! It's the two year anniversary of when we became best friends." Her grin appeared again suddenly and I blinked a few times. And then:

"Shit."

She blinked in confusion. "Why are you cursing? That's not a good thing to do." I smirked. "You called me a pride fucker like half an hour ago." She smirked. "But that's different. You are a pride fucker. You fuck with people's pride." I winced. "I don't fuck with people's pride, that's disgusting…and impossible." She rolled her eyes. "Why must your mind go to the negative side of things, Neji?" I smirked. "I'm a teenage boy in his junior year of high school. You really have to ask that question?"

Her smirk returned, nearly twice as wide. "Are you, the supposed _great_ Neji Hyuga, admitting that you at times can be as hormone driven as any other horny boy in this school?" I glared at her. "No. I'm simply saying I have a mind above and beyond the boys' in this school, and at the same time, I can think like them."

She scratched the back of her neck. "Eh?"

I smirked. "Exactly."

She rolled her eyes again. "Neji!" I blinked just once. "What?" She grinned. "You're a fuzzbag."

**Adorable.** That was my word for her. Simply; **adorable**.

**  
End Chapter One**

**Adorable – **(a dōr' a bl) _adj. _Very likeable; charming. **adorably** _adr. _**adorableness** _n._

A D O R A B L E

* * *

_Yes, so let's straighten things out if you didn't read the A/N up there at the top, okay? This is yet another story that popped into my brain. I was thinking of fuzzy little one-shots and this came to mind, and I thought; this doesn't have to be a one-shot!_

And so BAM! This story was born. If you read the summary [which I'm presuming you have because you clicked on the link to read it because you probably thought it sounded like a good story] you'll know that each chapter will have a different word for it, all in descending order of the English alphabet. In other words, this story will be no more than twenty six chapters long unless by chance I decide to write some sort of an epilogue for it which, knowing myself, probably will happen.

_Next chapter's name, as you can imagine, will start with a B so start guessing up words that could possibly fit [although I'm pretty sure that it'll be a hell of a lot of obvious topped with some straight simple logic sauce poured over it] into the title of next chapter. Ahem, but anyway, this means I'm officially screwed because I now have four stories to update!_

Well that's fine because I'm a speed typer, and I can type without looking, so I can easily multi-task so updates won't be slowed down all that much. I guess you can consider this story an addition for the new year ;] and a little Christmas and Three Kings Day gift for all of you guys!

_On that note; Happy Holidays to all of you! :] Well let me finish this before I start ranting [too late hee hee] by saying:_

_Thanks to all who read and review please! :]_


	2. Beautiful

**ABC's**

----

B E A U T I F U L

_Like the clouds you  
__Drift me away, far away  
__And like the sun you  
__Brighten my day, you brighten my day _

_I never wanna see you cry, cry, cry  
And I never wanna tell a lie, lie, lie  
__Said I never wanna see you cry, cry, cry,  
__And I never wanna tell a lie, lie, lie – Akon; Beautiful Feat. Colby O'Donis _

**  
Chapter Two**

**Beauty**- (bū' tē) _n._ Quality that is pleasing to the eye **beautiful** _adj. _**beautifully **_adv._

_N E J I_

**Beauty.** Screw pretty, or cuteness. She had absolute **beauty**. Those were my only thoughts as I drove to school the next morning. She had absolute **beauty** and she captured my heart so easily. My chest compressed momentarily as I thought of her. She was **beautiful** in every way. She had incredibly good looks and she had the best damn personality out there.

I turned a corner and continued on driving, the small hum of the Mercedes growing steadily louder, but only slightly, as the car accelerated. I should have been focusing on the road, but I couldn't. I could only think of her incredible **beauty** and the affect she had on me.

Her adorable, innocent girl appearance was just the thick layer of icing on the cake. She was very sweet and she loved to joke around a lot. From day one she was cracking jokes about me, and in a weird way that I couldn't exactly understand, I didn't get mad. Usually I'd snap something cold and very rude at someone whenever they cracked a joke. But with her, I let it slide. I could easily tell she was joking, but I didn't really pay any mind to whether it was a joke or actual trash talk when I turned and came to my own defense. It had surprised even myself when I let her joke about me that way.

It had to be the innocence and sincerity of her face that led me to do such a thing. She was far too kindhearted and sweet-looking to dislike. It was a wonder those kids pushed her on purpose. And that was when she had a complete spaz-attack and just blew up at them.

A smile found its way to my face as I came to a stop at a red light. The events rushed past me as a memory I'd revisited over the past couple years.

_I turned the corner in the hall and sighed. The A.P. classes in this school could be given to fourth graders. Maybe genetically enhanced super-genius fourth graders who graduated college when they should've been going to second grade…but you get my point, the work was incredibly easy._

_Taking a glance down the long hallway, I saw a few groups whispering together and giggling and laughing right before lunch, as all teenagers did. The only one not in a group was that bun-haired girl with the bright brown eyes. Tenten was it? I shrugged slightly to myself. She wasn't of much importance. I spoke to her once in a while, but it was nothing big. _

_  
Who'd have thought that just two years later we'd be best friends?_

_She walked down the hallway alone, and smiling, which was incredibly weird for any teenage high-school girl to do. Usually high-school girls would be in groups talking about gossip and crushes…right?  
_

_So what teenage girl in her right mind would go down a hallway alone? _

I shrugged off the thought as I continued down the hall. I kept my eyes straight, focusing on her as she passed a group of kids. They all giggled as she went by. She raised an eyebrow and glanced over her shoulder at them. She shrugged it off easily and I could see her mouth the words 'just let them say it to my face first'. Her smile never faltered through that, although by the end of the sentence, it had become a wide smirk.

_There was a suddenly loud outburst of giggles as one of the girls from the group tossed straight blond strands of hair over her shoulder and walked behind Tenten at an even pace, her gray eyes glinting with malice. She sped up only slightly and tapped Tenten on the shoulder._

_Said girl looked over her shoulder at the taller blond and raised an eyebrow as she turned to face her fully. "Yes? May I help you?" She sounded so innocent and she seemed so clueless as she looked straight up into the face of the girl, her eyes sparkling, screaming 'IGNORANCE' at anyone who bothered to look at them. The girl raised her eyebrow and let out a small laugh. "Who did your hair, a panda?" Tenten let out a small giggle as she grabbed hold of one of the buns on top of her head._

"_No, but that'd be so cute. Imagine a panda brushing someone's hair." Another small giggle escaped her as she turned a slight innocent shade of pink. The blond haired girl simply rolled her eyes. "Well, I can safely say that there's nothing __**cute**__-." She put a little emphasis on the word cute, "about that hairstyle. You look more like a pre-kindergartener than anything else." _

_In return to the comment, Tenten simply shrugged. "Well that's okay, because your opinion is your own, even if it's not required, wanted, or uncared for." The girl's eyebrow rose in cockiness. "What are you implying?" Tenten smiled but all innocence was gone. "I'm not so much implying as I'm straight out saying that I don't really give a fuck what your bimbo-headed ass says about my hair. It looks better than that piece of a shit wig you've got thrown on your head. What, did some birds make a nest in your hair?" _

Tenten pointed to the humongous messy bun that took up half of the blond's hair. She raised a brown eyebrow as the blond fumed, blushing bright red in both embarrassment and anger. She opened her mouth to rebuttal, but she was cut off by Tenten speaking again. "Or did you just have another customer asking for a blow job last night and decided to not do your hair after what he did to it?" At this point everyone had stopped their conversations and was watching the small confrontation between the two girls. There were a few "ooh's" from the audience, as well as the classic "damn, she got you good" and "oh no she didn't!" The blond tossed more hair over her shoulder.

"_Well at least I can get laid." Tenten shrugged. "If you consider getting paid to be laid by strangers then you're a real dumbass." The blond shrugged. "I still get a hell of a lot more than you." Tenten's smile turned into a smirk. "And what do you think, that you'll end up perfectly fine with no sex diseases and a great future and perfect reputation. The only reputation you'll get is a reputation like most other corner job bitches. You'll be known as the bitch who gets a dollar for every hour she lasts with a man." _

By now I was struggling to keep my jaw from dropping. She got the bimbo good. The blond glared. "At least I have money." Tenten shrugged. "Yes, because three dollars a night is so rich." Sarcasm dripped from every word and a few people let out some "oh damn!"'s. The blond was running out of comebacks and it was very obvious.

"_I'm still making a hell of a lot more than you. Where'd you buy your clothes, the flea market?" Tenten shook her head. "Nope. And what if it is? It'd probably be all the cheap knock-offs you've stolen from homeless people over the past couple years." She glared at her. "What the hell? Why would I steal from homeless people?" Tenten shrugged._

"_I don't know, but all I know is that whenever you walk by, hoboes give __**you **__money." The crowd let out intense laughs, further deepening the blond's angry and humiliated blush. The brunette remained unaffected._

"_Bitch that's the last fucking straw! I'm not the one that hangs around Hyuga all day just to up your ranks in the popularity chain! I can actually make my own way to the top, unlike you. And even with your little friend you still walk the halls alone." _

Tenten's smirk faded and her face turned impassive. She stepped toward the blond and it grew intensely silent. There wasn't a sound in the hallway at all. She glared at her so intensely that I had to fight down a shudder at the incredible hatred and anger that flowed through it. And let me tell you one thing, I was the master of all glares and hers made me nearly tremble in fright. That had never happened before.

"_Listen you superficial wannabe Britney Spears, daughter of the biggest hoe ever known to this world," she paused and took a deep breath. That could not mean well. "Your little bimbo-headed ass better not come talking shit and running your fucking mouth like you own the fucking place cuz I can tell you one thing, if you were as popular as you claim you are, you wouldn't be tryna play me in front of a crowd for attention. You'd get it without doing a thing. But no, you're working at it. And plus bitch, I don't really give a fuck about how high I rank on the fucking popularity chain in this shit-hole of a school where everybody's searching for attention. Like what the fuck. You want attention, then go fuck some celebrity and watch how your popularity sky-rockets. While you'll be __**with **__the celebrity, I'll be __**a **__celebrity, and I bet all you bitches gonna be bowing down and worshipping me one day because you just want more connections and popularity so more people can like you because you're simply compensating for the horrible truth that you can't make any fucking real ass friends on your fucking own. So I have one message to you, you fucking prostitute. Back the fuck up, shut the fuck up, and get the fuck out my face." __I took a glance at the bimbo. She was pale from shock, her mouth hanging open like a fish. Her gray eyes were wide and took up so much of her eyes it looked impossible to break her newly set record. And then slowly, the color returned to her face, and she blushed bright pink in embarrassment. From such a far distance, I could just make out the shine in her eye. Tears. She was about to cry._

After that, she smiled and waved sweetly. "Oh, and have a nice day." With that, she turned around and proceeded back down the hallway. She passed by me, and it wasn't until then that I realized I had stopped walking. The small smile was still in place as she proceeded down the hallway.

Out of pure instinct, I walked after her, but a regular pace. I was headed the same way anyway. She stopped at the corner and turned around to face the blond again, sticking her index finger up in the air. "Oh yeah, and for the record, I don't give a fuck how high somebody ranks on the so-called 'popularity chain'" she made air quotes before continuing, "I have every much of a right as anybody to talk to whoever I want to talk to so don't come telling me who I can and can't be friends with and why I'm friends with certain people. If I hang out with Neji, it's because I choose to, because I want to, and because I don't give a fuck about who he is. So what, if I hung out with Sasuke, who's in eighth grade and just as 'popular' would you have a titty attack for that too? How about if I hung out with Lee, would I be considered a loser, as you consider him? You guys ain't nothing but a bunch of phony ass bitches with no life other than raising kids on the corner. I'd feel real disgusted with myself if I ever was one of you. You only make friends to become more known, well bitch I make friends to keep them for life."

And then she turned back around and walked down the hallway as if nothing happened. I twitched as her words ran through my head. 'You guys ain't nothing but a bunch of phony ass bitches with no life other than raising kids on the corner.' There was complete silence in the hallway.

It was a silence that was broken by the most exaggerated use of the word "Deum!" A silence that was also broken by the usual phrase of: "Holy shit that bitch ranked the fuck outta you!" and "Deum she _**tooooold **__you!"_

_With that, she threw the remainder of her books to the ground and ran down the hall and around the corner to the bathroom. I raised an eyebrow. Drama queen. __With a shrug I replied. "They're all just doing it because everyone else is doing it." She nodded. "Exactly my point." I continued. "And anyway, if I get a girlfriend, I just don't want her to be pretty, I want her to be smart too." She blinked a few times as my gaze bored into hers. A light blush overcame her face. _

Shrugging off the crying that could be heard faintly from the hallway, and the newfound chatter of the argument that took place, I followed down the path Tenten had taken. I rounded the corner and continued down the hall to my locker, the locker she was next to, shoving her stuff into the one next to it. I blinked. "How the hell did I not notice that your locker was right next to mine?"

She jumped in surprise as she turned to look at me, eyes wide for a split second, before she blushed a light pink and let out a laugh. "Oh shit, you scared me!" I raised an eyebrow and she scratched the back of her neck nervously. "You know, it's rude to sneak up on a girl like that!" Shrugging, I walked over to my locker and pulled the combination, before opening the locker and neatly placing my books inside. "I honestly didn't try to sneak up on you. I was coming this way anyway."

Next to me, she froze, stopping the placement of her books in her lockers. She turned her head to me, focusing her eyes bright brown eyes on me. I raised a brow again. "You saw what happened back there, didn't you?" I nodded and she sighed. "About that, look, she mentioned your name so it's not like I was going to pull some random kid's name and-." I raised a hand to stop her. "Calm down. I don't care about that." She blushed light pink. "Umm…okay, just making sure you weren't mad."

My brow rose again. "Why would I be mad?" She grinned. "I don't know, I figured that you were quiet, so you were all stick-in-the ass and mad about everything." I blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?" She shrugged, her grin fading. "When people talk about the Hyuga family, they're constantly saying that you guys are really stoic and quiet and shit like that, you know, like you all had a thousand sticks shoved up your asses." I twitched at her language, but ignored it. "And you believed that?"

A cute little giggle escaped her, making her body shake only slightly. It was cute and chime-like, and sounded so unique. "I guess, I mean, I don't know. You were just too quiet to be normal and still it's a month-and-a-half that we've been in school and you've got your own fan-club already, consisting of nearly every girl in grades nine through twelve." I shrugged. "Aye, well, you know." She shook her head. "No, I don't…" She stared straight at me, looking completely serious. And then her face broke out into a smile. "Anyway, you get where I'm going with this. You were the exact description most people put you as. I even started thinking you were gay…are you?" I shook my head and she continued. "Well, see I thought that when you turned away all the girls that came your way, no matter how cute they were."

_My eyes became glazed just a bit and I could feel it easily. That blush against her face brought out her tanned skin and bright brown eyes. Come to think of it, she was so damn adorable. "Why are you looking at me like that?"_

_Snapping out of my trance the moment I heard her voice, I closed my eyes and placed my hand over them. "Sorry, I'm tired. I didn't get much sleep last night." I lied. I could hear the smile in her voice as she replied. "Oh, well then it's okay. When you get home, pop some Tylenol or something and go to sleep." I nodded. Nice. I covered myself up and she believed it. I was good._

"_Anyway, that bitch made me lose part of my lunch period. You coming?" I blinked. "What?" She smiled. "To lunch. Are you coming to lunch?" I blinked. "Oh, yes. Okay." Closing my locker shut, I followed after her down the hall and to the cafeteria as she talked a little, a smile on her face._

There was a beep behind me and I blinked to see the light in front of me flashing green. Without a second glance I rammed my foot down onto the gas petal and the car shot forward. My back pushed back against the seat and I pushed against the pressure, but it just pushed harder, so I decided to just stay back and drive like if I were leaning against the seat.

After a few minutes, I turned into the parking lot of the school, quickly finding a parking space and pulling into it before cutting the engine and placing my keys in my pocket. I looked at the Rolex watch on my wrist. "Seven fifteen." I banged my head against the steering wheel. "I'm early…again…" With a sigh, I pushed unlocked my door and opened it, climbing out of the car and shutting it closed before locking it again.

I turned and began my slow walk to the front of the school, where I had no choice than to wait for my friends for the next ten minutes for them to show up. A small sigh escaped me as I made my way across the parking lot. It was empty, but I'd parked near the back. Why? Because every student with a car parked in the front and I didn't want to. I didn't want to because I knew that all of them would practically smash up my car and it was way too expensive for them to pay for. Not that I cared for them and their wallets, oh no way in hell. It was just that, if my car was damaged, I wanted them to pay for it _in full_.

With that thought, I let a small smirk creep onto my lips. The smirk was gone as soon as it came because in that same minute, I heard a small scream. It came from behind me, but it wasn't far off. With that, I turned my head to see Tenten leaning up against her 2004 black Porsche. Up against her was some weirdo with short black hair spiked up completely. I could see her pushing against him but he was far too strong for her. He was leaning closer to her face, lips puckered.

She let out another scream. "Get the fuck off me you fucking son of a mother-fucking bitch I don't want your pot-headed ass so get the fuck off!" I winced. Damn. That was all I could say. She had a highly expanded vulgar vocabulary.

On impulse I walked over to where the two were. He was smirking slightly, and the closer I got, the wider that smirk seemed to get. That just enraged me. Speeding up, I finally reached the car and yanked him off of her. "Are you fucking insane? If she says no, then obviously she doesn't want you…" I let my gaze bore into his, hard and cold, holding so much hatred. It was a gaze that he easily returned.

Then he turned his head and looked at me with a cold, cruel smirk. "I see, Hyuga. Upset? Mad? Aggravated because I've gotten farther then you'll ever get." I balled my hands into fists, but restrained myself from knocking his ass out. Let me tell you, it was extremely difficult to not let it run across his face. "No…I'm mad that you really push yourself onto her, all over her, when she so clearly doesn't want to be with you…" He let out a small chuckle that resounded through the nearly empty parking lot. "Yeah, okay. Are you so sure about that? I see the way you look at her. Are you mad because she belongs to me?"

There was a hard sound of skin on skin and he nearly lost his balance, clutching his now bleeding nose. I turned to see Tenten glaring at him. "Bitch, I'm not a fucking possession so don't talk about me like you own me, fucking dumbass son of a fucking homeless bastard." The spiky-headed guy simply glared at her but he relaxed his face after a couple of seconds and let a smirk cross his face. "Well…I've got a nice view from here."

With a quick move that surprised me, she smiled and walked up to him. "Well guess what?" He raised an eyebrow, interested. "Yes?" Her smile broadened and she sweetened. Four words came up in my mind.

_What_

_In_

_  
The_

_  
Hell_

_?_

"I absolutely love…" She leaned dangerously close to his face and he simply smirked. Was I fucking invisible? She closed her eyes into the smile, making her look twice as innocent. There was another loud smack of skin on skin and her smile turned into a smirk. "To whoop your sorry ass!" And with that she turned, grabbed her book-bag from the hood of her car, and switched away, like she usually walked.

I couldn't help but smirk at him. He was on the floor this time, his hand clutching his slightly crooked nose and his cheek bruising quickly, going from a sallow peach to a deep purple. He glared at her retreating back.

"She's a bitch…but does it really matter?" He turned his attention to me with a smirk. "She's not going to be yours, if that's what you're thinking…she's going to be my girl soon enough." I glared at him. "Yeah, okay. We'll see…we'll see."

With that said, I turned and followed after Tenten, quickening my original pace. She was already near the end of the parking lot and from the looks of it, she was mad.

I sighed, and fisted my hands around my book-bag strap.

She wasn't getting any slower but neither was I, so in significant timing, I reached her. "Tenten…" She blinked and turned her head to me. "Umm…what?" Her face snapped from one of anger to one of mild embarrassment. "Oh, uh…hi…Neji."

"What?" She slowed her pace a little and let the hand that had been threatening to rip her book-bag's strap off begin to rub her arm. "You…you saw that…huh?" I nodded and she bit her lip. "It's…it's just that…Zaku gets on my fucking nerves! I swear I can't stand him!" Venom dripped off of her every word, emphasizing what she was saying.

A small smirk found its way to my face. "He deserved what he got…" She turned her head to look at me. "Well I knew that, Mr. Holmes…but…" I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so now I'm Sherlock?" She nodded, a small defiant look in her face. "Hell yeah you are! You can read people like a book and solve any mystery in the blink of an eye." I kept my eyebrow raised in challenge. "Then explain to me how in the hell I don't know what you're thinking…and how you're feeling…and why you're hesitating to tell me whatever it is that you're thinking?"

Her guilty smile showed that she was indeed trying to not tell me something. "Umm…well…you see it's that…he's…" She sighed and her hand shot up to scratch the back of her neck. "Well…he just doesn't know when to give up…" I blinked and then scowled. "Tenten…how long has he been doing this to you?" She smiled nervously. "Umm…I don't know…one maybe two…" I blinked. "Days?"

"Years…" I frowned. "And why the hell didn't you tell me?" She bit her lip and looked toward the ground. "Because…" I raised an eyebrow in irritation. "Be_cause_?" She took in a heavy breath, as if to calm herself. "Because I know I can whoop his sorry ass anywhere." I fought down a small smirk. "That's why you didn't tell anyone?" She nodded, still looking at the ground in front of her.

I let out a small sigh. "So you don't want to tell me things because you think you can do them on your own?" She nodded again. There was a small sound, like if she'd sniffled. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Without warning, she threw her arms around my waist and cried into my chest. "Neji…I'm…I'm sorry…I…I should've told you." She buried her face into my chest. She was so short compared to me. With me at five foot eight and her at five four, she was only at my chest. I looked down at her in complete shock and fought down what must have been the biggest blush of my life.

I felt her tears stain my shirt, which was nothing but a black thermal shirt. And a good thing it was thermal because I was pretty sure I'd feel like if it were raining with how much she was crying. That was the first time I'd ever seen her cry. She'd never broken down in front of me.

"I…I bet…you don't trust me…at all anymore."

Those words made me go stiff and that only made her cry harder.

She thought I didn't trust her anymore? Sure I was disappointed that she'd been waiting two years to tell anybody about this, and I'd had to find out by actually witnessing what happened…but I wasn't disappointed or angry enough to completely bitch out on her and not trust in her anymore.

Fighting back a small sigh, I wrapped my arms around her. At this she just grabbed at my shirt, fisting it. I blinked a couple times in surprise. Is this how upset she was? But my only wonder was: was she upset about the situation or at herself for not telling me about it?

Her sniffles and sobs were muffled by my, now slightly wet, shirt. We just stood there like that, in the middle of the parking lot. Through the tears, the emotion, and the resistance of sighing at it all, I actually liked being like that. It was comfortable to have her in my arms like she was now.

Slowly, she calmed down a little. For the first time since she'd started crying, she looked up at me, eyes watering still, and wet tear-streaks on her cheeks, glimmering in the autumn sun. "Neji…I'm sorry…I probably shouldn't have kept it…a secret for so long…I just…I just…" She shook her head and let out a small pout. And I'm not talking about one of those fake puppy dog pouts that she did whenever she wanted something badly, but an actual teary-eyed, sad, three-year-old-with-big-brown-eyes-type pout.

And even through that she looked **beautiful**. So incredibly breath-takingly **beautiful**. My heart lurched in my chest and skipped a few beats as it did. With a small sigh, she slightly loosened her grip on my shirt, but it was only a slight difference. She was still holding on pretty tight. "I know…I should've told you first…but…I…I couldn't…because I knew you'd…get…mad…"

My eyebrow rose entirely on its own. "And you suspected that if you told someone else, they wouldn't get mad either?" She shook her head. "It's not that…it's just…" She sighed. What couldn't she get to come out? In a swift movement, she pressed her face back to my chest, and said something, but it came out muffled. "What?"

"Em dwant thes unee lun s muh s em thes fu"

I blinked. "Japanese please."

She removed her head from my shirt and repeated herself but she said it so low I couldn't understand what she was saying.

"Tenten…can you please just tell me what the hell it is that you want to get out?"

With a small sigh she connected her arms around my waist. "I…I don't trust anyone as much as I trust you…" I blinked. Well there was something I wasn't expecting. I glanced down at her. She was blushing slightly, a small defiant pout in place, her head turned away to look to the other side of the parking lot.

"Well then that goes for you too…"

She sniffled and looked up at me. "Say what?" With a smirk I said; "You heard me. I didn't stutter." Without a moment's hesitation, she placed her head back on my chest and sniffled again. "So if you don't trust anyone as much as you trust me, why didn't you tell me about it?" I could feel her bite her lip. "Because…I knew you were gonna get mad and throw a terrible Hyuga rampage and end up in prison for assault or murder in the first degree."

I shrugged. "Yeah, okay. If they put me in jail for assault, he's going to jail for rape." She looked up at me. "Please; like I'd ever let him get that far."

She was frowning. And even then she looked **beautiful**. So incredibly **beautiful**. "I'll whoop his ass before he can lay a hand on me _anywhere_." **Beautiful.** So dangerously **beautiful** it made me wonder if she was even _human _because no human, at least I thought so, could attain such natural beauty. It made me wonder if she was some sort of Greek goddess.

A smile escaped me and she twisted her face into one of confusion. "What? Neji…why are you looking at me like that?" She blushed a light pink that contrasted with her flawless tan skin and I didn't think she could get any more **beautiful**. Slowly…she let out a shy smile back and she tightened her arms around my waist in a sort of hug. "Thank you Neji…even if you did go all high-looking on me."

_S A S U K E_

**Beautiful**. Fuck cute or pretty, she was pure **beauty**. Her rosette hair gleamed in the sun, whether it was winter or summer, and her green eyes always sparkled in happiness.

Sighing, I stopped at the red light and tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. I was in no mood to drive. What I wanted most at this very moment was to see a certain cherry blossom. I frowned. Was this what most people called obsession? Well if it was, it felt pretty damn good.

It was like a druggie getting high, or an alcoholic taking a shot. Even more, it was like she was made specifically to taunt me and drive me into insanity with her **beauty**.

The light in front of me still flashed red, I let loose a groan and turned my head to the side to see the very same pinkette that seemed to plague my every thoughts walking in the mid-autumn sun. I raised an eyebrow and lowered the window. "Sakura!" Her head snapped to her left to see me. "Oh, hi Sasuke!" I frowned. "What are you doing walking to school? Where's your car?" She blushed bright pink. "Oh…well umm…it…it sort of…broke down…because some bitch crashed into me."

My eyebrow rose all on its own. I closed them and let the thought ravaging in my mind loose. "Get in." She blinked. "W-what?" I brought my gaze over to her and it met hers. "Get…in…" She blushed pink again and scratched her cheek embarrassedly. "Umm…okay…"

She clutched her book-bag strap with her hand and popped the door open before slipping in. "Th-thanks S-Sasuke-kun." The door closed back, and I locked it easily.

As if in response to her entering the car, the light flashed green. I eased my foot down on the gas and the car rushed forward. She sniffled slightly and I let my eyes drift over to look at her. Her nose was pink and she had a light blush over her cheeks. "Sakura, are you okay?" She blinked and glanced over at me, a small smile gracing her porcelain skin. "Umm…I'm fine…I just have a small cold." I blinked. "In the middle of autumn?" She nodded. "My immunity tends to weaken once it starts getting colder."

I mouthed an 'oh' and turned my attention back to the road in front of me. We were almost to the school, only about a block or two away.

I glanced at the clock. Seven twenty. Good timing. I'd never gotten there so…early…from the corner of my eye, I could see Sakura looking out the window. She was so quiet that it was as if she wasn't even there.

Fighting back a sigh, I turned the corner into the parking lot of the school. I drove all the way to the back of the parking lot and placed my car right next to Hyuga's. We never parked in the front of the school for car insurance reasons. I felt the prickling feeling of eyes on me so I let my gaze fall on Sakura. "What?" She raised an eyebrow. "Umm…why do you park so far?" I shrugged. "So no one crashes into my car." She raised an eyebrow. "Smart move, Uchiha…smart move." She let out a small laugh and hugged my arm. "Umm…" I kept up my raised eyebrow.

She let out a small giggle. "Sasuke, you're so stupid…awe you know I love you!" I blinked and looked down at her. "Woman, do you have bipolar disorder?" She shrugged. "I don't know, you tell me!" And then she laughed. The sound was like a ring and truly a **beautiful **sound that fit her perfectly. She leaned her head on my arm and let out a small sigh. "Ah, I love you Sasuke."

"Wow, twice in one minute. You must mean it." I said it sarcastically. She smiled. "Yeah, I do. You're my best friend." She hugged my arm tighter. I fought down my own smile and unlocked the doors. "Come on, we better go or people are gonna suspect we're doing something." She let out a small laugh, but nodded and let go of my arm to turn and open her door.

We made our way out and I locked the doors before walking out of the parking space and walking down the empty driveway. I blinked at the sight before me.

There was Neji holding Tenten in his arms, smiling at her.

Did hell just freeze over?

What world were we in?

Hyuga actually grew the balls to ask her out?

I felt Sakura go rigid right next to me. From the corner of my eye, I could see her contemplate the same things. "Umm…Sasuke…"

With a shrug, I replied to the question I knew she was trying to ask. "I really don't know…" She let out a small, excited breath. "Well then let's go find out!" In a quick move, she grabbed my hand and pulled me behind her as she ran up to them. Getting closer, I could see that Neji was smiling and Tenten was now laughing.

I blinked. _What in the hell_? In a quick movement, Sakura stopped and pulled me next to her, letting go of my hand. She let loose a huge grin. "I didn't know you and Neji were together, Tenten!" Said girl blushed a deep red as said boy blushed a light pink across the nose. Sakura let loose a small giggle. Tenten shook her head quickly, bringing back her hands from around Neji's waist.

"Oh, no, no, no! It's not like that! It's just…uh…I got cold!" Ouch. Poor Hyuga.

I fought a smirk at his temporary humiliation, although he seemed unfazed, I knew that his ego just shrunk a little.

"And you decided to cuddle up to Neji like if you two were a couple…" Sakura smiled slyly while Tenten shook her head in denial. "No! I mean…I got cold and he saw that I was cold so he hugged me and I hugged back for the sake of being warm." Pinky raised an eyebrow. "Are you absolutely _positive_ that that's what happened?"

The brunette simply grinned big and said a "yup!" but it didn't reach her eyes. "You're lying through your teeth." She frowned. "No I'm not! I'm being perfectly honest." I smirked. "And you're lying through your teeth about lying through your teeth." She sighed. "I'm not lying…and…" She broke off and then a small smirk came up on her face.

"And what a convenience that you both got here at the same time…and that you were holding hands on the way here." Sakura blushed pink, but it was light, although it looked cute on her porcelain skin. I shrugged. "Sakura dragged me over here to see what the hell you two were doing hugging in the middle of a parking lot where cars are constantly entering through both sides." Tenten frowned. "I told you, I got cold! But that doesn't explain why you guys arrived at the same exact time…did she sleep over your house or something?" She smirked and waggled her eyebrows. "Or did he sleep over yours?" she turned to Sakura now.

Pfft. Yeah, I wish. "No. I saw her walking out on the street and decided to give her a ride to school. Simple as that." Tenten raised an eyebrow. "And why did you give her a ride?" I shrugged. "She has a cold, and I did it for the sake of being a good person." Neji snorted back a laugh. "Yeah, okay. Since when do you give a fuck about anyone?" I glared at him. "Birth." This time he let out a chuckle. "Damn, you're stupid."

I glared at him. "Is that the best you can do?" He smirked. "Well, since you asked I guess I can say that-." Two hands put a stop to him, one of them Sakura's and the other Tenten's. "Shut up. Please, it is too early for you guys to be arguing." Tenten nodded in agreement. And then I realized something. "Hyuga."

He raised an eyebrow. "What?" I smirked. "You're still 'hugging' Tenten." I made quotations. He blinked and looked down to see his arms still wrapped firmly around her. And from the looks of it, he made it seem like he had no intentions of moving them.

A light blush ran across the bridge of his nose and he brought his arms to his sides quickly. "And now? I'm not doing anything now." He smirked. "And as I was saying, I can say that-." The two girls interrupted him again. "Didn't I say no fights!" "Uchiha you instigator!"

Sakura smirked at Tenten . "Funny how you'd accuse Sasuke of being the one to start things." Tenten smirked right back. "Funny how you'd come to his defense." I looked at Hyuga. His face read 'hypocrites'…no screw read, that expression _yelled _it. I fought back a laugh as Sakura and Tenten continued to argue, not that I was paying attention.

Neji sighed and brought up the peace. "Stop arguing…now…" They glared at him, but at the warning in his face they quieted down and looked away, scared. I heaved a sigh. "So what do we do now? We have about another ten minutes before everyone gets here…and about another twenty before school starts…" Neji remained impassive while Tenten shrugged and Sakura put up her hands in a sort of don't-ask-me kind of way.

"We could just wait where we usually do; at the steps to the side entrance." Damn you Neji. He raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. I raised my own eyebrow and looked right back at him.

Tenten sighed and grabbed Neji by the shirt and began pulling him behind her. I smirked at him while he glared at me but my victory was short-lived as Sakura grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me behind her much like Tenten had done to Neji, but I'm pretty sure a hell of a lot stronger what with her genetics and such.

"You know, I'm getting sick and tired of you two fighting and arguing." Tenten nodded in agreement with Sakura. "Seriously, nobody in the world has as much testosterone as you two when you're fighting!" I twitched. She had to be the explicit one, huh? I wonder why Hyuga liked her…that pervert…

With that I fought down a small smirk at the idea of him as a pervert. I couldn't imagine his stoic ass lifting up skirts and smacking asses. Naruto could've done that, and maybe even…no _especially _Kiba.

We reached our usual hang-out spot and I grabbed at Sakura's hand and removed it from the front of my shirt. "Cut it out! You're messing up my shirt." She shrugged and let her hand drop to her side. "Well, it's not my fault that you wear all these expensive shirts from Abercrombie and Fitch. Really, it's just a t-shirt with Abercrombie and Fitch stitched into it. What's so special about that?" I shrugged myself. "It's expensive, and name-brand, which makes everyone like it."

She frowned. "So you're saying it's the same thing as Hollister and Aeropostale?" I nodded. "Obviously, seeing as Aeropostale is just another name-brand clothing line aimed at teenagers while Hollister was made by Abercrombie and Fitch." She sighed. "Sasuke, I swear, most people say you're so unique…honestly…I don't see it." She let out a small laugh, slapping my arm lightly. "Awe, you know I love you!"

I shrugged. "I've been getting that since like seventh grade. Now I know you don't love me. I know you're damn obsessed." She laughed. "Nope. Mild infatuation makes the cut…" Neji looked over at us. "Uchiha, Haruno, stop flirting and get your asses over here."

Sakura blushed a light pink but pulled me along behind her all the way over to the steps, where Neji and Tenten were already sitting.

Heaving another sigh as we reached the steps, I pulled her hand off of my shirt. "You know, you should stop doing that before it becomes a habit." She shrugged. "It kind of is already, so don't worry about it."

Fighting down a small smile, I pulled her down to sit down next to me. She let out a little yelp and she turned to me, glaring.

And all I saw was how intensely **beautiful** she looked at the moment. She was glaring at me playfully, her eyes twinkling with slight anger and her pink eyebrows narrowed down into a frown. As a result, her lips poked out in a sort of pout. She still had extravagant **beauty**.

She blinked out of her short-lived anger and her face twisted into one of confusion. "S-Sasuke…why are you looking at me like that?" I ignored her question and continued to look at her. She looked so fucking **beautiful** when she was confused. Hell with perfect skin like hers and those cute green eyes and that shiny, healthy pink hair, who wouldn't think she's **beauty**'s incarnate?

Tenten interjected, answering Sakura's question. "Awe, Saki-chan, can't you see that he's love-struck?" She grinned. "It's so obvious that he's staring at my awe-inspiring beauty." I fought down a blush as she giggled. She didn't' know how right she was. I shook my head and let loose a sigh. "Nope…I do no such staring." She frowned and raised an eyebrow. "You know Sasuke, since the day I've met you, you've never had a girlfriend, even with how cute you are."

I fought down the urge to tell her that the only girl I'd ever even considered to become my girlfriend was her. To make up for it, I raised my eyebrow. She smirked. "Sasuke…are you…" she crossed her legs and patted her hair down, very girl-like. Was she trying to call me gay?

Not that gay people were terrible, they're okay, but me liking guys was not in the cards for me. I shook my head. "No, I'm not gay…There's just no girls here that appeal to me." Yeah, okay, dirty liar. Neji snorted back another laugh. I glared at him.

Sakura let out a ringing laugh that reminded me of wind blowing through a beautiful cherry orchard. It was soft and ringing, and so damn **beautiful**. I fought down a smile at that. "So you don't think Karin's appealing?" I raised an eyebrow into what I guess was the biggest WTF look I've ever had on my face in my life. "She's pretty but she's not for me. She's Suigetsu's." She blinked. "Umm…how about…Hinata…"

Glancing over at Hyuga, I could feel the hatred coursing through him, the over-protectiveness. It wasn't his aura that made me say no, though. "She's the dobe's." Neji glared at me. "She's not a possession. And Naruto may like her but that does not equate to her being his girlfriend." Tenten let out a small giggle and smacked Neji's arm softly. "Let Naruto live a little. And Hinata isn't your daughter therefore you have no right to tell her who she can and cannot date." He blinked and glared at her. "And what right do you have to boss me around?" She glared right back. "I have all the damn right in the world as your best friend!"

Haughtily, he replied. "You don't have any right at all. Just because you're my best friend doesn't mean shit. You're not my mother; you have neither the right nor the power to make me do anything." Her glare intensified tenfold as she looked deep into his eyes.

With a smirk, I turned to Sakura. "I give him ten seconds." She slapped me on the arm. "Shut up…so where was I? Oh yeah! How about Temari? Does she appeal to you?" I raised my brow. "She and Shikamaru go out, don't they?" She nodded. "That's true, that's true…How about Ino?" I shook my head. "She's pretty too but just not who I want…" A sly grin crossed her face. "Oh…so you _do_ want someone…who is it?" I mentally cursed myself. I really needed to watch what I said.

Luckily, Sakura wasn't one to wait for answers so instead she kept guessing. "Is it Sakurambo?" I shook my head and she let out a small breath and guessed again. "How about Tenten?" At the sound of Tenten's name, Neji stopped his sentence mid-way and glanced up at me. Said girl blinked and waved a hand in his face. "You can't stop mid-spazz on me! If you're gonna spazz, can you at least finish it?!" I looked up and met his glare and I gave him a subtle look that denied what Sakura was thinking.

His face relaxed a bit and he turned back to Tenten's hand slapping him in the face. "Thank you! Now will you please continue your spazz." She hadn't slapped him hard, but the thought of him being smacked just shocked him and he narrowed his eyes at her. "You are so damn lucky that it's in my policy not to hit girls…" She let out a small laugh and gave him a hug. "Awe, you know I love you!" And all was forgiven from what I could see.

Sakura snapped her fingers in my face and I looked back down at her. "So? Is it Tenten?" I shook my head. Before she could even say her name and make me break down and tell her everything, I came out with a simple "You don't know her…let's leave it at that." She sighed. "So Sasuke, you're hanging out with other girls behind my back? I must say, I am so hurt." She put on a fake sad face before she let out a giggle. She gave me a huge hug. "Awe! My little Sasuke-kun is growing up!"

"I won't get past sixteen if you keep hugging me this tight." She blinked and let go and blushed bright pink. "Oh! Sorry Sasuke." She smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of her neck. Then her smile fell. "Well…when can I meet this girl?" Shit. My face was emotionless but I'm pretty sure she was trying to read my eyes. "You can't…it's bad enough that I have to sneak to see her…" She blinked. "Whatchu mean by that?" I took a long sigh.

Now normally, I would've told her the truth, but telling her the truth where my feelings for her were involved, my feelings that could completely destroy our friendship, was just out of the question. I wasn't risking anything. I sighed. "She goes to an all girls school…courtesy of her father who doesn't want her fucking at a young age." She sighed and crossed her arms. "He must've heard about you then." I glared at her. "You know I'm still a virgin…hell if I've never had a girlfriend what the hell makes you think I screwed someone?" She shrugged. "You could've had a one-night stand and not tell me about the loss of your virginity."

After heaving a long sigh, I turned to reply. "Can we stop discussing my love life and the private secrets of my virginity. When I have my first, I'll tell you? How's that?" She grinned. "Sure thing."

A lazy smirk crept up onto my face. "So Sakura…how about you? Unless you've kept it hidden, I've never seen you with a guy, even with how pretty" **beautiful **"you are." She blushed lightly and slapped my arm. "What the hell was that for?" She blushed slightly deeper. "You made me embarrassed." I shrugged. "How?" She crossed her arms and turned her head away. "You called me pretty." I replied with a huge, playful smirk. "Alright then, the ugly thing from the black lagoon, why haven't you had a boyfriend yet?" At this she slapped my arm again, even harder. "Now you're just being rude!" I sighed. "Nothing pleases you, huh?"

She shrugged, ignoring my previous question. "I met a guy a little while ago. He's pretty cute and…he likes me…or at least I think he does." She blushed a light pink. Damn it! Who the hell was he?" I blinked. "Do I know him?" She blushed slightly deeper and shook her head. "He goes to a different school…but unlike your girl he's in a public school…" Her gaze met the ground and she let out a small breath.

A smile crept up onto her face as she tried to hide a blush. "I'm…uh…hoping that he'll ask me out sometime…" Well I wasn't going to tell her to go after him but I wasn't going to make my jealousy obvious. "Oh…well…what if he takes too long?" She shrugged. "I'm patient…I can wait for him if he's too shy." I raised an eyebrow. "You see that's the difference between men and women. We go for whatever we want…" Liar. I didn't go for Sakura yet. "Girls…you guys just sit around and wait for something to happen."

Her glare to rebuttal to that sentence made her look so damn **beautiful**. Dammit, with any face she looked like **beauty**'s incarnate. "Women are just as capable as men!" Tenten turned around, her feminist side coming out. "Hell yeah! Give me a double high-five on that one." She reached over and high-fived Sakura. I sighed. Geez. Women. Some so **beautiful** but so damn annoying…

I sound like Shikamaru. You can't live with them…but you can't live without them…

**End Chapter Two**

**Beauty**- (bū' tē) _n._ Quality that is pleasing to the eye **beautiful** _adj. _**beautifully **_adv._

B E A U T I F U L

* * *

_Awwwwwwe a cute little chapter in which all four of our main characters arrive to school too early. lolx I'm not going to spazz out and go crazy and rant but Tenten whooped and spazzed ass in this chapter...nuff said lolx. Anyway:_

_HAPPY NEW YEAR/DECADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_Thanks to all who read and review please :]_


	3. Cantankerous

**ABC's**

----

C A N T A N K E R O U S

_It's a long way down, so high off the ground  
Sending for an angel to bring me your heart  
Girl where did you come from, got me so undone  
__Gaze in your eyes got me saying_

_What a beautiful lady, no ifs ands or maybes_  
_I'm releasing my heart and it's feeling amazing  
There's no one else that matters you love me  
And I won't let you fall girl, let you fall girl, oh! – Chris Brown; Forever_

**Chapter Three**

**  
Cantankerous** – (kan tang'kėr us) _adj. _Bad-tempered and argumentative

_S A S U K E_

**Cantankerous**. As far as attitude and temper went, Sakura was by far the most **cantankerous** woman I've ever met. She was easily angered, which was why most were nice to her. Those who didn't know about her crazy wrath were usually the ones that ended up fearing her most. Once she lost control and gave into the blind rage, you'd better start writing your will.

A small sigh escaped me as I glanced down at the science paper in front of me. It was filled out, for the most part, although some parts of it I'd left blank for the sincere reason that I couldn't concentrate. My mind was focused on my cute little pinkette rather than on the spreadsheet in front of me. My eyes were seeing what was on it, but my mind was not comprehending it. I was seeing it, without really _seeing_ it. My eyes could only visualize her as I stared at the semi-full paper in front of me.

Damn, she was scary when she was mad. It was like she was being taken over by a demon, one that seemed to live deep within her. It was like it'd take over in a minute, and the blinding rage would set in, wiping out her better thinking, and she'd swipe at anything and everything within her fist range. Once her fists were swinging, it was like no one could control her. I would at times be able to calm her down a bit, enough to stop the mad swinging and get her focused on who she was really aiming for, and at times I'd get her to calm down and stop swinging altogether. It was only when she was increasingly mad, so hate-filled and blinded by nothing but that utter hatred and rage that she wouldn't stop until she was certain she saw physical evidence of what she'd done to her opponent, whether it be that she knocked them out or drew blood, or even something as simple as give them a black eye or bruise. It was just about that only thing that truly calmed her.

When she was mad, it surprisingly struck me as similar to the way a vampire had such bloodlust that the only way to calm that was to actually draw that blood. Of course, she didn't always draw that blood and even if she did, she didn't eat it…drink it…whatever…the point of the matter was that she was drawn to satisfying her anger by leaving marks. At times, she got so mad that she'd break someone's bone and not notice until she'd socked them a few more times in the face.

There was one time when she'd smashed a girl's nose so bad that she'd gone halfway across the country in embarrassment and hadn't come back for about a month, when her nose was all better. After she'd come back, Sakura had shown a huge smirk for the entire week and raised an eyebrow at the girl. She'd simply blush bright red out of embarrassment, embarrassment because she was scared of the pinkette, and everyone saw it.

She still attended the school, but she cowered in corners with the few idiots that'd chosen to stay and hang around with her. Sakura had long given up her short-lived pride on the girl and even offered an apology but the girl had proved what such cowardice she'd held in herself from that day and run away screaming idiocy and fear-lined stupidity and lack of clarity to think straight.

And again, I declare damn. I just realized I sounded like a dictionary. I glanced over at the science textbook that was propped open next to me for the work we were doing and then let my eyes drift up to look at what the teacher was doing. She was reading a rather thick looking book, and from the looks of it, that was all she'd been doing today, seeing as she hadn't had it yesterday and was already halfway through it. The thickness seemed to give away the amount of pages, and I was guessing somewhere over six or seven hundred, maybe close to eight hundred.

Oy…that looked damn painful to read. Of course, it'd be pretty easy to finish it in a day, but still. It would take the _entire_ day, and the only people that did that were either the ones that were institutionalized for the rest of the lives and had nothing better to do other than stare at the walls of the cushiony room they were in and for people who had no lives point blank, so naturally it was something the lonely nerds did. Me? I was a nerd, yes, but a sexy nerd with my own life and friends. That was why I had such a large fan club with girls – and boys – of all ages in this high school. My spiky black hair and onyx eyes grabbed attention, and most people thought my smarts and athletic ability was a plus.

Picking up my pen, I reread the next question and quickly wrote down the answer. I couldn't have been more uninterested in my schoolwork than I was right now. What I wanted most at this moment was to be done with this troublesome work and think about how much this girl plagued my thoughts…it was like she'd never leave me to think freely.

Part of the reason I'd become her best friend was because I had felt something overcome me that first day I'd met her. She seemed uncaring about the fact that I'd had such a high status in middle school when I approached her in the seventh grade. She'd grabbed my interest in her first middle school fight that year, where she'd beat another girl for going around screaming and spreading obscenities and telling all the crazy boys she was easy.

They'd all gone after her like if she were throwing her clothes around. One of them told her about the girl's slandering and she'd gone on a mad rampage…

_I blinked as yet another boy walked up to the weird pink-haired girl and gave her a weird, sadistic smirk. She raised an eyebrow as the boy walked up to her with ease and pushed her up against the wall, his body pressing against hers. From my view, she looked pissed off and uncomfortable. "Any reason why you're pushing me against the damn wall?" He shrugged as he slipped a hand on the small of her back. "I hear you get…urges…certain urges…" Her face turned into one of confusion as he leaned toward her, his smirk widening._

_"And I hear those urges are too strong to ignore…" As of right now, I was leaning against my locker, watching those two in mild confusion, and deep bemusement. Her confused look never faltered. "Umm…what are you talking about?" His hand slowly slipped down and a look of incredulity crossed her face. _

_There was complete silence as she gasped while he groped her butt. "I can help you calm your…urges…" At first, I thought she was going to kick him in the balls or something but instead, she just gave him a seductive smile, and my first thoughts were somewhere along more explicit lines than 'what a hoe'. "Oh, I get urges all right…"_

_She leaned a little closer to his face, so close that her nose came into contact with his, their foreheads nearly touching. "My urges…are too strong to fight too…and my urges…" She paused and her seductive and sexy smile turned into a menacing glare. "Are those that allow me to whoop ass!"_

_In a heartbeat, the kid in front of her was on the floor, hand on his now swollen cheek. "You fucking pervert! Who in the hell told you I was easy? I'm still a virgin and in no way have any of those fucking urges to screw around that you were so obviously implying!?" She didn't so much ask it as much as she demanded it._

_His green eyes widened in terror as he looked up at her. Letting his hand drop to the floor to pick up his books, he answered, lips quivering with fear. "H-Hanajima…she…she said you were always willing…I…I g-guess she was lying!"_

_The glare she'd had never faltered. "You think so you fucking ding dong? Where the hell is she?" He shook his head, as if to tell her that he wasn't going to snitch her out…up until she crouched down, completely ignored the fact that she had on a skirt and socks as a uniform, and grabbed him by his uniform shirt collar. "Where…the hell…is…Hanajima?" He blinked and the terror shown on his face doubled as he lifted his free hand and pointed down the hallway. "She was…she was on her way to lunch!"_

_She smirked slightly before slamming him back to the floor on his back and storming down the hall in all her fury and rage. Now, normally, I would've ignored something like this, but I had to admit that a pretty girl who could easily whoop a boy's ass against another okay looking girl that seemed to scream out insults and threats when challenged…_

_Well, what do you think? No boy ever wants to miss out on a catfight, especially in middle school. _

_So, along with everyone else, I followed her down the hall._

_She was stomping along mercilessly, and once she caught sight of the black hair and blue eyes that dignified Hanajima she set off on her rampage. She stuck an accusing finger at her. "You! You fucking bitch! Why the hell are you talking shit about me? What is going through your fucking thick ass skull that's telling you to tell all these damn horny ass boys that I'm a corner bitch?" Hanajima blinked and a small smile adorned her face, although it oozed in silicon and fakeness._

_"I have no clue what you're talking about…" Finally reaching her, Sakura grabbed her up by the collar, picking her up off the ground a bit and slamming her into the wall. The look of shock and surprise that crossed Hanajima's face was one that nobody could miss. "Stop playing with me bitch! I wanna know your fucking reason for doing something like that!"_

_Hanajima gave her a cold glare for only a few seconds before her face fell into a smirk. "Oh, that! Well…I did it to put an end to your excess bitching. You were constantly crying about how you couldn't get a man because of your forehead, well it looks like I helped you out. You should be thanking me, not trying to hurt me." Sakura glared and let her drop to the floor, taking a couple steps back. "I don't give a fuck about the boys in this school. They're all some horny ass mother-fuckers who aren't focused on anything but groping and grabbing, and I sure as hell could get more boys than your ugly ass."_

_There was a hum of 'ooh's from the onlookers and I rolled my eyes. At this, Hanajima got mad, eyes narrowing and going stone cold. Sakura glared right back at her with such an intensity that it was a miracle that Hanajima was still standing. "The devil is liar, bitch, you can't get as many boys as I can…hell you can't get more boys than I get in one week than in your entire lifetime." Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, and no one can match the amount of STDs you have either." Another hum of 'ooh's, and this time I let my jaw drop for a second. Hanajima's glare intensified and she raised up a curled fist. "Why you tryna act tough? We know you're desperate to get an actual friend but you don't need to get all bitchy."_

_Sakura glared at her. "I'm not you." And with that, she turned around and began walking down the hallway. Still seething with anger, Hanajima walked a few steps forward and reached out before grabbing Sakura's pink hair and yanking down hard. The pinkette simply grabbed the back of her head, and her voice slowly rose as she said her next sentence._

_"This fucking bitch!" And she turned around, bringing her fist back briskly before, in the blink of an eye, letting it crash into Hanajima's face. Said girl fell back onto her ass and placed a hand on her cheek, her mouth hanging open in shock. "Oh hell no!" And like that, Hanajima shot up and tried to punch Sakura. The pinkette simply smirked at her as she ducked and kicked her upside the chin. Hanajima went into shock at being struck in her neck pressure point and Sakura brought her fist around to punch her again. _

_Once her fist came into contact with Hanajima's nose, it broke and blood spurted out. She brought up her other fist completely and punched her in the mouth. She delivered a few other blows to her face as her lip started bleeding as well and the pinkette ducked down and punched her a few times in the gut, before tripping her and kicking her one last time, barraging her in the gut. And then, as if she'd done nothing wrong, nothing against not only the school rules, but against some basic laws, she turned around and walked away, her chin held high, and her face expressionless. I blinked and watched her as she walked down the hallway before taking a look down at Hanajima._

_Taking a good look at her, it was visible that her face was beginning to swell and she'd gotten socked in the eye too. Around it's rim was a black and purple bruise starting to form and her nose was still pouring in nothing but blood, staining the floor until the janitors came to mop it up. Startled, she raised a hand to her mouth and let out a soft sob, sitting up, and holding her stomach in pain. She tried to get up, but it proved somewhat difficult, although finally she got up and limped to go lean against the wall. She let out another muffled sob and wiped her nose with the back of her long sleeved white uniform shirt._

_From around the corner came Hanajima's best friend and cousin, Hanahada, her face contorted into one of worry and anger. She rushed over and placed a hand on her cousin's back as she started to fall into a fit of sobs. "Dammit! Hana, who did this?" She shook her head and placed her hands over her eyes. "Th-that pink bitch…" Hanahada pulled away from her cousin and raised an eyebrow. "Sakura?" Hanajima nodded in turn as Hanahada pulled her arms back to her sides. "Stay here chick."_

_And she took off in the direction Sakura had just headed and I sighed and slapped my forehead. "So now they're all going to try and get her…" I shook my head, hand still on my forehead as I walked down the hall. Finally catching sight of Hanahada mouthing off to Sakura, I sped up a bit. She pulled her hand back to hit her and I stepped in front of Sakura, arms spread out. "We get the idea Hanahada, you want revenge for your cousin but if she did such damage to your cousin, why would you even try to do it yourself?" She glared at me although it was false. No girl could truly glare at me…at least not any girl I'd ever met._

_"Move Sasuke! Let me please just whoop her ass!" Sakura started pushing me away. "Yes, Uchiha, please move and let me show her who's gonna whoop who's ass!" I tried to hold my ground but I had to admit, Sakura was strong. She pushed me to the side with little effort and both girls brought their fists back at the same time. Hanahada brought it forward first but Sakura dodged and brought her fist around until it connected with Hanahada's face. From the look on Hanahada's face, it hurt like hell, and that was warning enough to make me step back, lest I wanted to get socked in the eye by a girl with pink hair._

_Hanahada groaned and glared at her before bringing her fist back again. Sakura ducked and punched Hanahada in the gut before tripping her and kicking her a few times in the ribs before finally getting down on her knees and punching her across the face a few times. All the while, Hanahada was trying to cover her face to protect it from the punches but Sakura was still getting through to her._

_Eventually, she grew tired of beating the girl up, so she got up and crossed her arms, smirking down at Hanahada triumphantly as Hanahada gasped for air. "Yeah bitch. Who was supposed to whoop who's ass?" Hanahada sat up and wiped the blood that was streaming down from her lip before trying to spit at Sakura. The pinkette stuck out her tongue and turned on her heel and walked away, hips swinging as usual. _

_The girl she'd just beaten to a pulp tried to stand up, but she was losing her balance a little, and she growled out when nobody bothered to help her stand up. "D-dammit! You people are so rude! Why don't you help a girl up?" Some other girl shot a hasty reply as she turned the corner, gray eyes widening in mirth. "Bitch, cuz you're no girl, you're a hoe and everyone's afraid to catch what you have!" There was an outbreak of giggles as the girl and her group of friends turned down the hallway. The laughter faded as they got farther away before I sighed. Well, that was a pretty quick fight and didn't last all that long. But two fights in one day? That girl with the pink hair was as good as gone for a few days…or maybe the last few months of school._

_Turning on my heel, I walked in the direction that Sakura had headed. I had no clue what I was doing, but I was following my gut, and my gut was telling me to find Sakura. For whatever reason, I didn't know, but whatever it was, it was probably stupid…but with good intentions. Crossing my arms, I walked over to where her locker was, where she'd been headed when Hanahada caught up with her._

_Seeing a speck of pink as I rounded a corner told me I was close and the feeling I had in my gut made me go after her faster. She probably heard me coming because as soon as I rounded the next corner into the hall where her locker was, she tried to punch me. My eyes widened for a fraction of a second as I ducked, staring up at her fist. "Well damn, if you didn't want to talk to me, all you had to do was tell me to leave…"_

_The blush on her face told that she hadn't been expecting it to be me to come, but rather Hanahada or Hanajima. She bit her lip and brought her hand to her side, grabbing onto her skirt, and blushed. "Oh…umm…Sorry!" I smirked as I stood up straight. "Wow…you're so articulate…" She brought her fist back fully this time. "Stop the sarcasm because I won't miss this time!" I put up my hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay! Calm down woman." She crossed her arms, a small frown coming onto her face. "So what'd you follow me?" I crossed my own arms again and replied her question easily. "My gut told me to."_

_Her frown turned to a glare. "So you stalked me down the hall, scaring the shit out of me in the process, just because your gut told you to?" I looked to the side in mock thought and looked back to her. "Yep, pretty much." Her glare intensified a little. "Well that's good to know…"_

_For the first time in a really long time, I laughed. It wasn't long or OD stupid or loud, but I laughed. Her face let up and she laughed with me too. "I'm sorry, but that was too funny!" She giggled out between chuckles and little fits of laughter. She gasped in a breath and calmed down a little, letting a few random giggles escape. "Oh God, that was funny!"_

_"And yet we don't even know why?" She nodded. "Right!" She smiled at me, and I figured it was kinda cute, not crazy or too flirty like the little fifth and sixth graders who thought they were grown and tried to bag boys from the eighth grade or higher. She let out a small sigh and scratched the back of her neck. "Guess I'm gonna get into some deep shit for those two fights, huh?" I nodded and shrugged. "Do you think it's worth the trouble? Beating them up I mean?" She looked up at me and nodded, her eyes going wide. "Oh hell and yeah! Them bitches was getting on my last nerve!" I smirked. "I'm pretty sure they were getting on everybody's nerves."_

_She laughed, and again out came the cute smile. She calmed quickly and smiled. "You know, you're not as rude and careless as I thought…" I raised an eyebrow. "Umm…is that a good thing?" She blinked and nodded. "Yeah…you're actually a lot cooler than you let most people believe, other than the fan-girls and fan-club and straight A's…" My eyebrow remained raised. "But from what I hear, you have quite a few fan-boys and fan-clubs yourself. And I hear you've got a four point oh grade average too…" She grinned. "Hell yeah I do! I take pride in my schoolwork! But that doesn't mean that I'm like the average nerd who stays all bummy and ugly…I like looking my best during a test." Her grin widened and she grabbed a hold of my arm. "Let's get our asses to lunch before the teacher finds my ass and tells me I'm suspended…"_

_I blinked and stared down at her hand on my arm as she easily began pulling me toward the cafeteria. She was bold, oh hell yes. And just because of that, I instantly began to like her. She was okay, I decided. "So, let's hurry the hell up cuz I don't want my ass with a suspension!" All I remember after that was smiling a little to myself at the stares that people gave us as she pulled me down the hallway to the cafeteria._

I fought a sigh. Good times, great memories. It was funny how long it had been since then, how much closer we'd grown…how much greater our friendship had become…

_And how great my feelings have become_…

Struggling to keep myself from shaking my head at the thought, I turned my full attention back to my paper to see that I only had to complete one more question. I blinked and stared at it blankly. How long had I been spaced out? And how in the hell did I not notice that this was the last question?

Frowning, I wrote down the answer to the next question and put down my pen before folding my hands in front of my face and looking out the window. I was bored now; and Sakura was in her medical science class while I stuck here in biology. Neji had suggested I do it because it was an easy class where a whole bunch of projects and almost no written work other than a few lab reports and some notes were required.

After my first day here this year, my only thoughts were _'I am going to kill that inglorious bastard!'_. Not only had we had to copy a shitload of notes in the hour that she wasn't talking, but sophomore biology just happened to be right after lunch which was the longest period in the entire school day; and not to mention that she'd assigned us two essays on what we know about the human body and the other where we had to research on stuff we didn't know and write about what we learned; as well as read about three chapters in our new, super-fat biology textbooks. We also needed to have a contract signed stating that we would take care of the equipment and we already had a homework assignment on page fifty-something on the notes that we'd taken down in class that day.

I remembered that once school was over, I had approached Neji with killing intent while he talked to Tenten at her locker and would've probably tore his head off from behind had Tenten not gone 'Sasuke, what the hell are you doing?' before I got the chance.

But anyway, as I was saying; Sakura was in her medical science class and it was the one class she _never ever_ texted in. She was intent on becoming a doctor; I think a surgeon, whichever! But she was crazy about going into the medical field. She had the mind for it; although the stomach, I wasn't so sure.

See, when we were in the eighth grade a couple years ago, I'd cut my hand really deep, and the white meat was showing. She had already been taking an anatomy class with high school students then and had been intent on sewing my up herself, making her own anesthetic and everything. But when she pulled her gloves on and got near my blood; she freaked and started screaming and sticking her tongue out and yelling 'ew!' repeatedly, swatting her hands around.

That was one of the biggest WTF moments of my life. So when I asked her "What the fuck is so scary about blood?" She just glared at me. "Well it's icky!" I couldn't fight the smirk that had been wanting to come over my face at the time. "Icky?" Her glare had intensified and she crossed her arms and let out a huff. "Okay then, you know what; fuck you! Dammit, I'll just let you bleed to death! Oh, and I'm not giving you any pain killers either!" I simply shrugged and said, "That's fine, I catch a bus to the hospital." And she was angry at me for three days for that, although she walked with me to school and back home, she wouldn't talk to me and would ignore me if I talked to her.

Just more proof of how **cantankerous **she really was and is.

_N E J I_

**Cantankerous**. Forget about stressed and easily angered; Tenten was just about the most **cantankerous **female in my life. She had the worst temper imaginable when she didn't get what she wanted. She'd stick her nose up at you, cross her arms, and turn her head away with a 'hmpf!' and if you bothered her, she'd yell. I know because I tried, back in freshman year and she'd done it. Of course, she apologized later and explained that she had gotten her 'visitor' that day and certain 'friends of the visitor' were bothering her. Translation: she got her period and her cramps were eating her alive.

I'd smirked at her misery and she'd punched me in the arm, leaving me bruised for at least a week or so. After that, a lot of people had claimed that she could kick my ass although after that particular situation, even with all the criticism, I still didn't want to find out.

My gaze traveled the room and unsurprisingly, they landed on her as she chewed at the top of her pen, looking down at her test boredly, her legs crossed over. Her brown panda buns were pulled up, as usual, and her bangs out and center, fringed, and making her look so much like a princess. Her bright brown eyes still gleamed, but they showed a boredom there that seemed to be mocking her usually happy and bright attitude. Apparently, I let my gaze linger a little too long for she turned to me and smiled. Her eyes sent me a silent message. _'What?'_

I shook my head, a small smile on my face, and turned away. I had already finished my test a long time ago. I was simply sitting in my seat boredly, waiting for the click to tick down to twelve thirty so that we could drop our stuff and go to lunch. But the clock didn't seem to like me too much today because it was ticking down slower than molasses. The damn minute finger just didn't want to move from the twelve to the six. What was so hard about that? It was just a few numbers. It wasn't like that thing was going to be killed for moving a little quicker.

Funny how when you want time to speed up so you could escape boredom just a little quicker, it slowed down, as if trying to mock you. Yet to others it might seem that time was speeding up to a more terrible fate than boredom or death; a test that they know they'll surely fail.

A pencil went down and a slow yawn escaped on my right. Some random kid coughed and the pencil-scratching stopped for the slightest bit of an instant while ever glanced over at him before it resumed as their focus went back to their quizzes. I looked over at where the sound of the yawn and saw Tenten leaning forward onto her desk, head in her hands and eyes closed as she took in a few deep breaths. She'd finished. She always did that when she finished. For whatever reason, tests got her so bored she got tired, and she would literally fall asleep for the rest of class. She pushed away her test to the corner of her desk and laid her head on her arms again to begin resting.

Acting quickly, I picked up a sharpened pencil and tossed it so that it roughly brushed her arm as it was pulled downward toward the floor (damn gravity!). Her adorable, chocolate eyes shot open and she looked straight at me before a glare escaped her. She pursed her lips and leaned down to pick up the pencil. The only four words that process through my mind were 'oh fuck, I'm screwed' because Tenten had unmatched aim when it came to throwing at moving or unmoving targets (as well as shooting paintballs). She sat straight up and tightened her hand around the pencil before intensifying her glare.

Finally, she brought her hand back. Oh and I saw where her eyes were aiming for. I couldn't help but think that after this, I would never be able to have kids. Yet she slammed the pencil on her desk and put her head down. The teacher's head snapped up and she looked over at Tenten. "Tenten! What are you slamming down pencils for? You're breaking everyone's concentration!" She peeked up from her arms and I could just make out her raising a brow. "And you yelling at me from across the room isn't?" The teacher blushed a deep scarlet, either out of anger or embarrassment, before she raised a finger and pointed straight at her. "Yeah, well for being such a smart-mouth and talking back, you've just earned yourself a detention missy!"

I quickly came to her defense, seeing as Tenten's **cantankerous **attitude would get her nowhere if she bothered to argue back. "Excuse me, sensei, but, does that really earn anyone a detention? I mean I understand talking back in an offensive manner but she was simply being truthful." She smiled and turned on me instead. "Well Mr. Hyuga," she paused for a second before continuing, "since you seem so keen on coming to Ms. Tenten's defense, then I guess you can stay after school with her as well. You _both_ will come and see me after school. And if you decide to skip detention, you'll both find yourselves tomorrow in In-School Suspension without so much as a minute's notice." Tenten clicked her tongue menacingly before turning her head away and frowning. "Yeah, well, whatever."

Whether Tenten was the secretary for the student council or the eleventh grade president, she still got detentions like everyone else; probably more than anyone else because she was so damn **cantankerous** and not scared to speak her mind (although she never attended, so after her first quarter year here, they just sent her straight to ISS). Everyone voted for her for precisely that reason, and they took her in as secretary because as far as neat, fast-writers go, she was the best in the school. She'd jot down quick and important notes, taking down everything almost word for word, in a small computer-like scrawl that would still take up six or seven pages of nothing but the notes of that meeting.

This would be the first detention she ever _attended_ in her lifetime, and probably the only one. The teacher was pretty dumb trusting Tenten to come after school (although she must've been thinking she was lucky because Tenten didn't say she wasn't going to come).

"No, not whatever Ms. Tenten. You will show up to my detention at two ten. Is that understood?" Tenten let out a huff and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, fine." The teacher smiled and turned her back to sit at her desk, eyes scanning the room once before she sat down and continued to type away on her computer. From the corner of my eye, I could just make out Tenten mouthing the words '_fucking bitch' _as she glared at the teacher. I had to really fight back a laugh for that one. The poor kid next to her wasn't so good at it though, because he burst out into a fit of laughter that made everyone in the room snap their heads in his general direction and stare with wide, curious eyes. The teacher snapped her head right back up and screamed out "Detention!" Unluckily for her, the kid was still raising curiosity with his loud guffaws.

That only seemed to aggravate her more, seeing as she stomped over to the desk a couple minutes later with a completely filled out referral and slammed it in front of him. The kid gasped and jerked backward in his chair, making it fall back with him still in it. Because of this, he hit himself in the one place that should never be struck by _anything_ in this world.

He howled in pain and the teacher's face paled noticeably, although she hid her fear for his kids with her anger as she pulled her hand back from the referral and pointed toward the door. "To the office; now! You've got ISS for the next _week_." The poor kid wasn't even listening. He was too busy holding his spot. "DAMMIT!" He cursed out loud and the class broke into laughter, save for Tenten, who was still pissed, and the few smart guys (coughcoughmecoughcough) who didn't laugh at someone's crotch injury. The kid winced and let out another loud scream in pain. "Ouch! How the fuck am I gonna even get to ISS with my balls hurting!?"

Obviously, he didn't give a fuck what came out of his mouth. Fucking inconsiderate dumbass; thinking of his pain instead of his manners. What the fuck is wrong with him?

Ahem…

"Go to the nurse and then go to ISS; I don't care! Just get out of my class, you're disrupting my test." I spoke out now. "Everyone's finished their test." She turned her mean gaze on me. "Would you like to make that a _double_ detention Mr. Hyuga?" I raised a challenging eyebrow and shook my head. "No, I don't think a double detention would do much. I mean really; it's depriving time of getting my homework done which could lead me to fail classes, and bring down the overall grade of the school's performance, thus classifying the school as one with low standards and a last choice for anyone who doesn't get into any other high schools. Now you wouldn't want that, would you sensei?" She frowned, pursing her lips and scrunching up her already ugly face.

"Fine. You'll keep the one detention, I won't give you another." I fought down a smirk. Score one for Neji. "As for you, Karashi, you can feel free to leave now!" The kid on the floor took in a sharp breath before he staggered to his feet, nearly falling over a few times in the process, before he got his balance back, pulled his book-bag over his shoulder, and made his painful way out the room. Groans and grunts of pain could be heard as he made his way down the hall and around the corner to the office. Finally, the room was quiet, well at least for a moment. The class bust out into laughter again and it took the teacher a little while to settle the class down. Even Tenten was laughing.

But soon it was obvious that she was getting annoyed, and when the class didn't quiet down completely she let loose a little of her anger. "Oh for the love of God, can you guys shut up!?" Yup…even her calm moments changed in heartbeat. But when someone was as **cantankerous** as her, it was hard for it not to.

_  
S A S U K E_

**Cantankerous**. So damn **cantankerous **that it was difficult for her to control even a sliver of her anger, as she so obviously showed when she threw her book to the front of the class and marched out with her referral five minutes later, shouting out that it was "Unjust to have to read such seven-grade bullshit" while she made her way out. And me, being the incredibly retarded dumbass that I am, actually came to her defense and landed myself with my first detention _in my life_.

Yet it couldn't be that bad right?

Well I wouldn't know, considering that this was my first detention. Although what would brighten it, if it were as terribly boring as most would say it is, was that Sakura would be there with me.

_We're probably gonna be the only ones in there, and Lord only knows what could happen in an hour_.

Those were my thoughts as I made my way down the same path as Sakura to the office, where the teacher had sent her, although knowing her, she probably had gone off someplace else, being too independent to listen to what others say. She'd probably grabbed her stuff and stalked off to an empty classroom somewhere.

A whistle caught my attention as I strolled down and I looked behind me to see the very same pinkette that was in my thoughts standing there before me…well behind me…well you get the point! She was leaning against a locker, arms crossed and referral dangling from where her fingers grasped onto it lightly. I couldn't help but think she looked so cute leaning against the locker like that in those ripped skinnies and red, tall but not too tall, heels that shoe off your first couple toes (whatever the hell they're called, the damned things!), no matter how short she was. She was frowning and tapping her foot impatiently. "Are you ignoring me or did you simply not see me?"

_All I ever see is you_.

"No, I just didn't see you, seeing as you're so short, you're two dimensional." She raised an eyebrow, face still showing signs of annoyance and anger. I walked forward to her, gripping my own referral. She kept up that damn eyebrow steadily, and continued on tapping her _click_ing heels. "Sasuke Uchiha, you should know better than to ignore your surroundings like that. You just might miss me and I just might have to get mad at you." And with that, her face broke out into a wide grin.

_I miss you whenever we're apart by a hallway._

She walked over to me and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug (with that wicked strength of hers) and let out a small laugh. "I swear, Sasuke, you're just so oblivious sometimes." I raised an eyebrow.

_Yet you're the one that's oblivious to the fact that I've liked you since the seventh grade._

"Me? So all this time, when you've been calling me a genius, you've been lying to me?" She rolled her eyes sideways for a quick second. "Well…do you want the truth or the lie?" I smirked. "Lie please." She grinned. "No, of course not!" And she laughed and hugged me even tighter (if that was possible). I wrapped an arm around the back of her neck, seeing as I was too lazy to do anything other than that. She tugged on my shirt and I frowned. "Do you mind not doing that; I don't have the kind of patience to find my way out of a shirt that's been stretched out too much." I could practically _feel_ her rolling her eyes. "Sasuke you're so stupid." But she let out a laugh while she said it.

I smiled. Only her laugh would have such an effect on me. She pulled away from me and her hand latched onto my wrist tightly. "Come with me for a minute." I raised an eyebrow. "Do I have a choice?" She shook her head. "Nope." And with that being said, she began to pull me down the hallway, twisting and turning easily, guiding me on a path that I hadn't been on very often.

It was the path to the courtyard. _Why in the hell is she dragging me here? _My question was answered as soon as we entered the actual courtyard. "I know you're wondering why I brought you here." I frowned. "How the hell did you know what I was thinking?" She smiled. "'What the hell' was written all over your face." My scowl deepened. "How the hell-?" "Is that possible?"

My scowl deepened again. "How the hell-?" "Am I doing this?" I blinked and nodded, confused. She laughed and hugged my arm to her face. "You're easy to read." I frowned. "Fuck-." "Me? No thanks." And she laughed before continuing. "Well you're here because I brought you here dammit! That and I wanna show you something." She smiled sweetly, and it brought a small smile to my own face. She tugged on my arm and pulled me deeper into the courtyard, which was basically a big garden located smack in the middle of the school where the gardening club (cough cough nerds cough cough) had taken the time to grow, full of tomatoes, potatoes, grapes, strawberries, cherry trees, and even a small, man-made pond smack in the center where they grew water lilies and moonflowers.

But she wasn't pulling me anywhere near these things. As a matter of fact, she was pulling me to a deep part of the courtyard, shut off from the large glass windows that gave a great view of the garden and stopped, surprisingly, under a cherry tree whose buds hadn't yet bloomed. She dropped my arm and her smile broadened as she looked up at the tree. "Sakura, why did we stop at this specific tree if there's a ton whose cherry blossoms have actually blossomed?" She looked over her shoulder at me, a pout on her face. Although this time it wasn't playful or sweet, her face was cold, and even offended. "I think this tree is actually very beautiful."

I raised an eyebrow. "How? There's nothing on it except for buds." Her frown deepened into a glare and she let out a huff. "Well…I like it…it reminds me of me in a way." I maintained my raised eyebrow. "Umm…how?" She turned her head away from me and looked up at the tree, smile back on her face. "Well…a lot of people tell me I'm slow and not all that great…that I have nothing special about me…" _How in the hell could they think something like that? _"…But I like to think of myself as a late bloomer…" She reached up and plucked on of the buds, enclosing her hand around it. "…I like to think that maybe I just haven't found something other than school that I'm great at…but I will eventually, and just because I'm a little late, doesn't mean I'm worth any less than anyone else." Her smile broadened and it brought so much light to her face that it was simply _amazing_. She turned around to look at me, all coolness gone, and held out the bud to me. "Keep it." She said and let out a small laugh. I raised my eyebrow again. "What?"

A giggle escaped her. "I think it's pretty cliché to say that after my words of wisdom, you've seen the light." My eyes furrowed into a WTF look and she laughed again, slapping my arm softly. "Sasuke, I swear most people say you have no emotion whatsoever. I see so much of it in one day that it makes me feel like slapping the shit outta you." I'm pretty sure my eyes twitched at that and she let out a weird laugh that made my other eyes twitch as well, so it looked like I was blinking in a weird sort of way. She laughed again and leaned her head against my arm. "You're so stupid!" But she laughed again and hugged my arm to her.

"Sakura can ask you something?"

She looked up at me, eyes blinking and lips pursed in curiosity. "What?" I frowned as I looked down at her. I was probably going to get killed for what I was about to ask her. "Do you have bipolar disorder?" She blinked softly and shook her head slowly. "No…" My scowl deepened. "Have you ever had lead poisoning?" She shook her head again. "No…" My frown deepened even more. "Do you need a psychiatrist?" She punched my arm so hard that for a moment I thought she'd sent it flying out of its socket while the rest of my body was pushed back with the force. "Ouch! DAMMIT!" She glared at me, although there was a bit of playfulness and amusement hidden somewhere in her emerald orbs. "Sasuke Uchiha, I have the right to say that you earned every bit of nerve-killing pain that is passing through your body right now for what you just said to me because I am in no way associated with any psychiatrists because I don't need any and am absolutely offended and appalled at the even slightest idea that I'm delusional enough to require someone as absolutely preposterous or expensive as a fucking retarded as wannabe mind re - !"

"SAKURA!"

"WHAT?!"

"BREATHE!"

She gasped in a deep gulp of air, the dark red tint on her cheeks that spread across the bridge of her nose turning to bright pink before she leaned on on me as if I were a the tree right on her other side. She continued to breathe deeply and placed a hand to her forehead, leaning her head back onto my chest. "See…what you…make me do…Sasuke?"

I raised an eyebrow. "How the hell is it my fault if you're the one that got mad when all I did was suggest a psy-." She glared at me before she cut me off. "If you value your manhood and your life, don't you dare finish that sentence, Sasuke." I chuckled in amusement, but didn't finish the sentence nonetheless. When Sakura said she'd kill somebody, you'd better believe that she'd do it. And she would get rid of all evidence that led to her. She was just scarily good that way. "Smart move, Uchiha…smart move…" And she was back to normal again, laughing and smiling.

Rolling my eyes would've seen like a good option at this point, but I couldn't take my eyes off of her. One minute, she was angry, the next minute, smiling. And it attracted me like a magnet with metal. She didn't know the effect that she had on me (and don't think wrong for the people that are messed up in the head). She was making me feel crazy, obsessed, _in love_, and she didn't even know that she was doing it. _How the hell is she doing it, though?_

"Sasuke?"

"Huh?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and stared straight at her. "What?" She simply smiled and shook her head before she grabbed my arm again. "Where'd I hit you?" I pointed to the abused spot and she laughed softly before she lifted my sleeve and put her hand on it. "My God, you're bruising!" I raised an eyebrow and reached for my own bruise, but the only thing my hand touched was hers. "It is?" I ignored the sensation in my stomach and fought down the blush that was creeping onto my cheeks. She nodded, a frown coming onto her face. "I'm sorry Sasuke…I didn't mean to hit you that hard…"

"Hn."

"Sasuke Uchiha, don't you 'hn' me because I will punch in a spot that's sensitive to the touch." My hands immediately flew down and I crossed my legs. She blinked and raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you holding your crotch for? You gotta pee or something?" I shook my head and pointed at her. "You're gonna punch me." She maintained her raised eyebrow before she broke out into loud laughter. "Sasuke you're so stupid! When I said a spot sensitive to the touch, I meant your eye!" I winced and uncrossed my legs and crossed my arms. "Shut the fuck up…"

She laughed even louder the second time and slapped my arm, straight over where I'm guessing the bruise was. I jumped. "Ow!" She stopped laughing immediately and grabbed my arm. "Sorry!" I frowned and turned my head away. "Sasuke Uchiha, don't ignore me when I apologize to you!"

**Cantankerous**. So damn **cantankerous**.

**End Chapter Three**

**Cantankerous** – (kan tang'kėr us) _adj. _Bad-tempered and argumentative

C A N T A N K E R O U S

* * *

_Thanks to all who read; and review please =] ._


End file.
